Individual Power Research Articles

DATAEMS: Design and development of a data analysis-based energy monitoring system

Electrical load forecasting is now a key component of planning and running a smart grid due to the ongoing integration of green energy sources (RES) into the energy mix and the transformation of the traditional electric grid into a more intelligent, flexible, and interactive system. Either when it comes to the distribution system or a single household, predicting the electric load is a difficult task due to its high volatility and uncertainty. In this paper, the study suggests a method for monitoring electrical energy that is based on long short-term memory (LSTM). The research for the suggested method is based on real data of electricity use from four distinct clients during a week. The analysis is made more effective and produces better findings owing to the use of a customized meter that transmits data to the server every minute. Modeling irregular trends in electric power consumption is made possible by the LSTM's aptitude for examining recurrent patterns in time series components. The suggested method calculates the dataset on individual household power usage with the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) as compared to existing forecasting methods. The simulation results highlight the parameters that have the biggest impact on forecasting power consumption.The suggested LSTM model substantially reduced time series forecasting errors when compared to previous techniques.

Distributed Control of HVAC-BESS under Solar Power Forecasts in Microgrid System

This paper investigates an energy management problem in the microgrid by scheduling heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) and battery energy storage system (BESS) with a distributed algorithm. A multi-layer energy management architecture is presented at a system-level to co-optimize the HVAC-BESS by taking into account solar energy forecasts. A surplus-based consensus algorithm is proposed to solve the optimization problem, where the local power mismatch is introduced as a surplus term, and the HVAC-BESS can thus be co-scheduled to maximize renewable energy efficiency at the peak generation time. A set of the convex cost functions are formulated to minimize the HVAC's user dissatisfaction degree and alleviate power loss during the BESS operation. The goal is to collectively minimize the total energy cost in a distributed manner, subject to individual load constraints and power balance constraints. It is theoretically proved that a global convergence of the proposed algorithm is achieved provided that the directed network is strongly connected. The results from a number of case studies are promising, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of the algorithm under practical scenarios.

Health-Related Stigma and Challenges Faced by Men Living with Celiac Disease: A Qualitative Analysis

BackgroundCeliac disease (CD) is an autoimmune condition managed by strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. Dietary choice has gendered connotations, and men with CD may face judgment from others when following a gluten-free diet. However, little is known about health-related stigma in men with CD. ObjectivesThe study aim was to explore the health-related stigma and challenges faced by men with CD, and the influence of CD on their lives. MethodsQualitative semistructured online interviews were conducted with men living with CD. ParticipantsTwenty adults (aged 18 years or older) identifying as men living in the United Kingdom, with self-reported CD, were recruited using social media and opportunistic sampling. Statistical analysesParticipants provided rich, detailed discussions about aspects of their experience of living with CD. Reflexive thematic analysis was used, with a critical-realist lens that enabled researchers to connect men’s experiences within wider sociocultural constructs such as masculinity and social identity. ResultsThree themes were identified: CD threatens social inclusion; others’ assumptions about CD and microaggressions have a psychological influence, and masculine norms, health-related stigma, and power dynamics influence men’s health behaviors and everyday experience. Health-related stigma was found to be interconnected with these men’s gendered social environment, suggesting thatmay be an important social and structural determinant of dietary, health-related, and health support-seeking behaviors in men diagnosed with CD. ConclusionsContrary to prior assumptions, health-related stigma influences men with CD of all ages, particularly in social settings. The study unveils the complex interplay of individual beliefs, social norms, and power dynamics, in particular with other men, that influence individual beliefs and emphasize the performative aspect of food consumption. Internalized stigma and microaggressions influence men’s well-being. To better support men with CD, health providers, charitable organizations, and the food industry should address the social influence of adherence to a gluten-free diet, in particular perceived threats to social status and inclusion, which may cause concern, influence food choice, and influence dietary adherence.

Operational Characteristics Assessment of a Wind–Solar–Hydro Hybrid Power System with Regulating Hydropower

Renewable energy generation technology, as an alternative to traditional coal-fired power generation, is receiving increasing attention. However, the intermittent characteristics of wind and solar energy pose certain challenges to the stable operation of power grids. This requires a better understanding of the operational characteristics of renewable energy to improve the comprehensive efficiency. To achieve this, firstly, four indicators (i.e., average fluctuation magnitude, Richards–Baker flashiness, average climbing rate, and change in the time-averaged value) within a single-evaluation-indicator framework are proposed to quantitatively evaluate the fluctuation characteristics of wind, solar, and hydropower and a wind–solar–hydro hybrid power system. Secondly, a comprehensive evaluation indicator is developed by scientifically assigning and recombining the four indicators using entropy weight theory. Furthermore, the comprehensive evaluation index is applied to the wind–solar–hydro hybrid power system to determine the operational characteristics of subsystems and a complementary system at different time scales. Finally, the load tracking coefficient and coupling degree are used to quantify the complementarity degree of the hybrid power system. It is found that the fluctuation degree of the hybrid power system is smaller than that of the individual power system. Meanwhile, both fluctuation and complementary characteristics are strengthened with the increase in time scale. The proposed methods and results shift the volatility from an abstract concept to concrete representation, providing a new perspective and reference for evaluating the operational characteristics of the hybrid power system to achieve power system planning and scheduling.

Can transnational municipal networks mitigate the carbon pollution of the world’s power plants?: an empirical analysis

Transnational municipal networks (TMNs) have been heralded as actors that can avert a climate catastrophe by filling the “emission gaps” left by national climate policies. But can these networks reduce the carbon pollution of power plants, the world’s largest sites of climate-disrupting emissions? Using an international data source on individual power plants, we empirically analyze this issue. Findings reveal that after accounting for their structural properties and the national policies to which they are subject, power plants emit less CO2 when nested in cities that are members of TMNs and this is especially true of plants in less developed countries. In contrast, national climate policies are unrelated to plants’ environmental performance over time. Although our analyses suggest TMNs help to reduce the emissions of the typical power plant, they also indicate they have little bearing on the emissions of the world’s most egregious polluting plants.

Ecological Thinking about the Metaverse from a Posthumanist Perspective

ABSTRACT The metaverse is a burgeoning technological domain, ranging from data-driven algorithms to advanced artificial intelligence. Immersive virtual reality does not reflect the ecological crisis in fictional worlds through interactivity. In the footsteps of Félix Guattari, this article elaborates on ecological thinking in three categories, each of which reflects the ecological risk and potential positive improvement of the metaverse. In the first category, environmental ecology, the article argues that the technological infrastructure of the metaverse is intensely power-consuming and materialises data and information fluxes. Moreover, the structure of digitised societies promotes intangible production. In the second category, social ecology, it argues that cognitive capitalism further stimulates consumerism because of big data classification and user-targeted algorithms and further amplifies climate change due to the empowered logistics industry. Additionally, capitalism causes continuous competence in the culture industry, leading to a high elimination rate of device production and low efficiency of intellectual labour. In the last category, mental ecology, the article argues that by precisely targeting users, the attention economy of the metaverse empowers individuals who are eager to pursue valorisation. These digital dwellers overlook ecological issues and the foundations of their virtual lives. In the posthumanist approach, humans are flattened by capitalism and become surplus value as natural forces. Humans’ minds are alienated from the idea that nature and humans coexist. Instead, the metaverse is directed toward individual power that immerses itself in a capital-driven network of information technology. This article proposes the merit of forming a nature-culture continuum to promote an ecological ideology in the metaverse. On the one hand, the nature-culture continuum of the metaverse spreads ecological knowledge and praxis via interactivity. On the other hand, the key mediation of nature-human metabolism through human labour contributes to environmentally friendly products, which cultivate an ecological culture of consumerism. Thus, the metaverse functions in a posthumanist context that consumes nature and humans for profit; however, the metaverse can also arouse thoughts of sustainability.

Women's entrepreneurial resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic inside handloom family enterprises: a case study of West Bengal, India

PurposeIn light of the COVID-19 pandemic's economic effects, this paper focuses on how home-based women artisans running their family businesses plan their operations to function in the “new normal” environment. The paper emphasises the adaptability and reorientation of business strategies displayed by women entrepreneurs in response to the changing work environment. The paper argues that the women's sense of agency after years of running the family business enables them to bargain and offer passive resistance to the family's power, with the latter aiming to curtail their entrepreneurial gains as the men return to their homes after losing their jobs with the onset of the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe research draws from a qualitative study that was conducted employing field surveys and in-depth interviews with the women entrepreneurs in four important handloom clusters in Nadia, West Bengal (India) in 2022. The empirical evidence is gathered from five months of extensive ethnographic study with 66 home-based women entrepreneurs belonging to 26 handloom family enterprises. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews and the following narrative analysis have been used to comprehend the complex and dynamic conception of female entrepreneurship and women's agency to pivot business strategies during the economic turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsAs a result of the abrupt suspension of the textile industry and the partial or total closure of the traditional and contemporary markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, women from family handloom enterprises are taking steps to strengthen their entrepreneurial resistance. Although women entrepreneurs had spent years running the family business in the absence of their husbands, the pandemic exacerbated the deep-seated gender disparities within the family when social norms threatened to undo the hard-won progress made by them. However, their sense of agency enables them to plan well and resist the patriarchal onslaught with a variety of potentials, utilising tools of active and/or passive resistance within an environment of concrete limits and oppressions.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature on women's entrepreneurial capacity by focusing on how the COVID-19 crisis and changing market demands enable gendered reactions in family enterprises. While men, back home after losing their jobs, choose to strengthen their individual identities and power positions by trying to retain control over the family business, women contribute to collective actions for enhancing the resilience of the community by pivoting their business strategies and implementing new ideas to suit new market conditions. Women thus play a central role in fostering social cohesion, helping build and maintain relationships, promoting empathy, and creating a sense of belonging, which strengthen community bonds and cooperation. The paper shows how women's entrepreneurial resilience and responsibility provide an important basis for organizing sustainable collective action for the survival of the artisanal community during crisis situations.

Decoupled and compensated space vector pulse width modulation algorithm for dual‐channel PMSM with unbalanced power supplies

SummaryThis paper investigates an improved space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) and channel‐decoupled method for dual‐channel permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) powered by unbalanced battery packs. Recently, individual power supplied voltage source inverter (VSI) is introduced considering insufficient power rating and unsafe driving in electrical vehicles (EVs). However, the issues of strong coupling and unbalanced power supplies exist between channels. Firstly, a modular topology is constructed to improve the reliability and security of the system. Secondly, the channel‐decoupled method is introduced based on multi‐dq rather than the conventional vector space decomposition (VSD) to eliminate coupling among multi‐channel. Thereafter, the variable distribution of voltage vectors (VVs) is corrected by the proposed SVPWM, where the switch can be operated appropriately. Finally, the comparative experiments are carried out focusing on decoupling and unbalanced power supplies, and the results present superior performance in terms of low torque fluctuation and balanced channel currents.

Taking stock of individual power resources in European Union law: The blurry lines between adaptable and malleable social rights

The highly fragmented, layered and complex regulatory policy framework of the European Union hides a wealth of resources for social Europe. This article aims at exploring the social opportunities offered in this intricate legal framework on the basis of the resource-based understanding identified in the first contribution of this Special Issue by Corti, Ferrera and Keune. Accordingly, it pinpoints and discusses several guaranteed subjective powers to obtain certain social benefits or services in each of the pre-identified tripod of power resources: normative, instrumental and enforcement power resources. The analysis contradicts, to some extent, the negligible role attributed to EU law in terms of social rights. Overall, it finds that there exist abundant power resources at the EU level. Whereas these certainly add to the plethora of resources available to reach a certain standard of living, this abundancy is paired with a heightened complexity. Consequently, it is not always clear how the power resources interact among each other. Moreover, there is a disproportionate use of the tripod. Binding normative resources are used rather marginally in comparison to instrumental and enforcement resources, which is not necessarily a consequence of the lack of competence at the EU level.

Invisible social Europe? Linking citizens' awareness of European cohesion funds, individual power resources, and support for the EU.

In the twentieth century national social policies stabilized the European state systems, favouring domestic concordance and citizens' support to the nation-building process. Welfare institutions have historically served this key political function also in federal systems, where social citizenship has been used as a tool to foster unity. In contrast, even though the EU devotes a consistent part of its (however limited) budget to social cohesion and inclusion programmes, it takes little credit for such efforts. Building on original survey data on public opinion collected in 2019 across ten EU countries, this article shows that, indeed, only a limited number of citizens are aware of the social role played by the EU in their local community. On the other hand, it demonstrates that citizens' awareness of EU programmes strengthens the individual perception of power resources stemming from euro-social initiatives, the feeling of 'being heard' by the EU and, ultimately, the support for the European integration project as a whole. By implication, increasing the relevance and visibility of euro-social programmes could possibly reinforce the very foundations of the EU.

Representasi Kekuasaan dalam Pidato Menteri Pendidikan Kebudayaan Riset dan Teknologi

This study aims to describe the shape and form of representation of power in the speech of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology by using social change analysis from Norman Fairclough. The focus of this research is text analysis, text production, and sociocultural analysis with data in the form of power vocabulary. This research is a discourse analysis study in the form of critical discourse analysis (AWK). The source of the data for this study is the online media site Kemdikbud.go.id which contains the text of the speech including words, clauses and sentences. The research data were obtained by documentation, reading, and note-taking techniques. The results of the study show that there are features in the vocabulary of power that have experiential value in that they contain ideological words that are fought for, lexical processes, and the use of metaphors as a form of representation of power through language in the Minister of Education and Culture's speech. From a review of text production and socio-culture, it also shows that the production of discourse in speech is inseparable from aspects of power and domination. Both domination and power in groups or individuals.

Analysis of a Multiport DC/DC Converter Used for Energy Extraction from a Photovoltaic system

In this paper, a simulation analysis of a multiport DC/DC converter with Boost topology has been carried out. The converter topology consists of two inputs and one output. This analysis aims to obtain the first version to cope with partial shading in a PV system using a multiport converter. The analysis shows the multiport converter's functionality to track the maximum power point of the two PV panels using the Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm in normal irradiance conditions and partial shading situations. A switching time of the switches was established to perform individual power extraction from each panel connected to each port individually. These findings will contribute to the feasibility of the proposed methodology for efficient energy extraction using multiport converters as another alternative to cope with partial shading.

Data-driven aggregation of thermal dynamics within building virtual power plants

Virtual power plants (VPPs) possess the capability to aggregate flexible resources to provide grid services in the distributed network operation. The potential for flexibility utilization in building loads, particularly thermal-controlled ones, has drawn attention when aggregated into VPPs. This work proposes a data-driven approach to overcome the challenges in modeling and aggregation of thermal dynamics within clustered buildings. Specifically, we utilize piecewise linear equations to represent the impact of various input features on thermal dynamics (i.e., zone temperature variation), which is more precise in extracting the nonlinear relationship through adaptive model order adjustment and breakpoint determination. Additionally, we transform the identified thermal dynamic process into virtual storage models and aggregate them into the optimization-based system dispatch process. The proposed two-stage aggregation approach facilitates the determination of accurate dispatch decisions by iteratively updating the power bounds of flexibility regions. It ensures disaggregation feasibility simultaneously to generate individual power signals for each building. Case simulations verify the accuracy of the proposed method on modeling and aggregation of thermal dynamics within clustered buildings.

Bi-decadal trend of atmospheric emissions from thermal power plants in Mainland Southeast Asia: Implications on acid deposition and climate change Mitigation

Steady increase in electricity generation and heavy reliance on coal in Mainland Southeast Asia (M-SEA) create huge pressure on the environment. This study used information collected from individual thermal power plants (TPPs) in M-SEA to calculate emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) for 2010, 2015 and 2019. The emissions were projected to 2030 following the latest national Power Development Plans. The emission results were analyzed in relation to the power development by country and fuel type, and environmental impacts. The region collective annual TPP emissions in 2019, in Gg/yr, were 27 PM2.5, 77 PM10, 0.7 BC, 4.9 OC, 255 SO2, 451 NOx, 91 CO, 12 NMVOC, 0.4 NH3, 260 CO2, 13 CH4, and 26 N2O. Coal-fired TPPs dominated the emissions of most species while NG-fired contributed the largest amounts of NH3 and CH4. Bi-decadal increase in energy production from TPPs of nearly 3 times is accompanied by 2.7 times increase in emissions. The 2010–2019 period saw average emissions increase by 1.9 times (TPPs' energy production increased 1.6 times), slightly higher than the rate of 1.4 times projected for 2019–2030 (double TPPs’ energy production). The current intrusion rate of renewable energy accompanied by phasing-out of old TPPs are still by far insufficient to reverse the emission trend. Aggressive power development in Vietnam with its heavy coal reliance made it the largest emitter in 2019 and the projected for 2030, followed by Thailand. Spatially, higher emissions are seen over locations of large coal-fired TPPs in Vietnam and Thailand. Available rainwater composition monitoring data showed higher deposition amounts of sulfate and nitrate in areas located near or downwind of large TPPs. Significant GHG emissions projected for TPPs in 2030 indicated that TPPs should be the priority for emission reduction to achieve Nationally Determined Contribution targets. Emission database produced by this study can be used in dispersion modeling studies to assess impacts of TPPs on air quality, health, and acid deposition.

A Hybrid DNN Multilayered LSTM Model for Energy Consumption Prediction

The ability to predict energy consumption in a world in which energy needs are ever-increasing is important for future growth and development. In recent years, deep learning models have made significant advancements in energy forecasting. In this study, a hybrid deep neural network (DNN) multilayered long short-term memory (LSTM) model was used to predict energy consumption in households. When evaluating the model, the individual household electric power consumption dataset was used to train, validate, and test the model. Preprocessing was applied to the data to minimize any prediction errors. Afterward, the DNN algorithm extracted the spatial features, and the multilayered LSTM model was used for sequential learning. The model showed a highly accurate predictive performance, as the actual consumption trends matched the predictive trends. The coefficient of determination, root-mean-square error, mean absolute error, and mean absolute percentage error were found to be 0.99911, 0.02410, 0.01565, and 0.01826, respectively. A DNN model and LSTM model were also trained to study how much improvement the proposed model would provide. The proposed model showed better performance than the DNN and LSTM models. Moreover, similar to other deep learning models, the proposed model’s performance was superior and provided accurate and reliable energy consumption predictions.

Language in intercultural business interactions: A self-perceived power perspective

Intercultural business interaction has received limited scholarly attention in business-to-business (B2B) marketing research, with language and culture particularly being largely neglected topics despite the literature noting their importance in B2B marketing. This study addresses this omission by focusing on how managers make sense of the role of language in intercultural business interactions. We also explore the role of language as a potential source of individual power in international business (IB) relationships. The empirical enquiry focuses on an extreme case of Russians' intercultural business interactions with Finns or in Finland before the war in Ukraine. The findings show that context and language, as well as translation power dynamics are intertwined, generating an additional level of power dynamics that emerge from the business per se. Language particularly influences self-perceived power in business relationships and can lead to dependence or frustration due to linguistic limitations. The study contributes to research on B2B marketing and IB by highlighting that individual-level exposure to intercultural business interactions entails significant linguistic challenges that cannot be solved only by using English. Specifically, it contributes to addressing the issue of language in use, which has rarely been examined in the literature on intercultural interaction in the B2B environment.

Building an empowerment program to improve the health of patients with severe mental disorders

Risk factors and cardiovascular diseases are overrepresented in people with severe and persistent mental disorders. A person diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder is two to three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than the general population. An empowerment program has been co-created to reduce these health inequalities. It is one part of the COPsyCAT project. The people-centered approach has been used. The participation of the patients, caregivers, and health professionals was decisive. Stakeholders redefined the objectives of the program. The aim is to improve quality of life, rather than reducing cardiovascular risk. Existing tools -that have been evaluated for their usability - were selected to allow for self-directed patient orientation, so that the constraints between psychiatry and primary care could be circumvented. The program is based on the pooling of existing resources in a territory. The individual power of action and the organization of healthy offers are thus designed to reinforce each other. This article concretely describes the steps through to which the COPsyCAT empowerment program was designed, in co-construction by the researchers of the study, the users and user associations and healthcare professionals at based on their experiential knowledge. The feasibility of the program and the appropriation of tools in real situations will soon be evaluated. The measure of the program’s effectiveness on cardiovascular risk will come in second time.

Market power evaluation in the electricity market based on the weighted maintenance object

This article proposes a market power evaluation model for multiperiod and multiobject evaluation in the hydrodominated electricity market. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the market power of hydropower enterprises in multiple periods, accurately identify the abuse of market power, and avoid monopolizing the market by hydropower enterprises. The market power evaluation model is constructed based on the improved weighted maintenance object (WMO), and the market power is evaluated through strength values. The developed model is applied to evaluate the market power problem involving the 52 hydropower stations owned by 16 owners in the southwestern region of China. The simulation results indicate that the individual market power of hydropower stations and owners with large installed capacity is generally higher. Moreover, the collusion market power of hydropower stations and owners is generally lower while the runoff is abundant. The abuse of collusion market power existed more commonly than that of individual market power. Furthermore, compared with the evaluation results of other multicriteria decision-marking models, the proposed model has better discrimination ability and higher agreement, and is more suitable for market power evaluation in this article. The research findings will help regulators supervise the market power of the hydrodominated electricity market and reduce the occurrence of electricity monopolies.

Electroencephalographic markers from routine sleep discriminate individuals who are vulnerable or resilient to sleep loss.

Sleep loss impairs cognition; however, individuals differ in their response to sleep loss. Current methods to identify an individual's vulnerability to sleep loss involve time-consuming sleep-loss challenges and neurobehavioural tests. Here, we sought to identify electroencephalographic markers of sleep-loss vulnerability obtained from routine night sleep. We retrospectively analysed four studies in which 50 healthy young adults (21 women) completed a laboratory baseline-sleep phase followed by a sleep-loss challenge. After classifying subjects as resilient or vulnerable to sleep loss, we extracted three electroencephalographic features from four channels during the baseline nights, evaluated the discriminatory power of these features using the first two studies (discovery), and assessed reproducibility of the results using the remaining two studies (reproducibility). In the discovery analysis, we found that, compared to resilient subjects, vulnerable subjects exhibited: (1) higher slow-wave activity power in channel O1 (p < 0.0042, corrected for multiple comparisons) and in channels O2 and C3 (p < 0.05, uncorrected); (2) higher slow-wave activity rise rate in channels O1 and O2 (p < 0.05, uncorrected); and (3) lower sleep spindle frequency in channels C3 and C4 (p < 0.05, uncorrected). Our reproducibility analysis confirmed the discovery results on slow-wave activity power and slow-wave activity rise rate, and for these two electroencephalographic features we observed consistent group-difference trends across all four channels in both analyses. The higher slow-wave activity power and slow-wave activity rise rate in vulnerable individuals suggest that they have a persistently higher sleep pressure under normal rested conditions.

Comparison of Two Pumping Strategies to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding at Discharge in Mothers of VLBW Infants with Low Milk Output - A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

To compare the effect of two strategies of breast pumping-power pumping (PP) vs. routine pumping (RP) over one week in mothers of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with low milk output to improve breastfeeding rates at discharge. Mothers with low milk output, defined as inability to express sufficient breastmilk to meet the feeding requirements of their infant on or after post-natal day 14, were randomized to receive power pumping vs. routine pumping - once daily for 7 d coupled with routine lactation support and hand expression 3 hourly in both groups. The primary outcome was exclusive breastfeeding at discharge. There was no difference in the two pumping strategies with respect to exclusive breastfeeding rates [61.1% in PP vs. 50% in RP group; (p = 0.477, RR 1.2; 95%CI 0.76 to 2.17)]. Median milk volume pumped in the individual power pumping session on 7th day of intervention was significantly higher than that in the individual routine pumping session on the 7th day (50 mL vs. 27 mL, p = 0.014). The cumulative median milk volume expressed per individual pumping session over the 7 sessions of power pumping was also higher than that with routine pumping (305 mL vs. 213 mL, p = 0.054). In this pilot trial, expressed milk volume was significantly higher after each individual power pumping session compared to routine pumping. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge were similar in the two groups.