Effectiveness of Series Capacitors in Long Distance Transmission Lines

The effectiveness of series capacitors used with long distance transmission lines in improving system stability is analyzed. Compensation efficiency is defined as the effectiveness of series capacitors. The influence of various factors on compensation efficiency such as capacitor location, line length, and degree of series compensation is investigated. Proper use of shunt reactors with series capacitors, in addition to limiting power frequency over- voltages, increases the maximum power transfer. Analytical expressions are included to aid in the calculation of compensation efficiency for a few typical cases. Curves are also presented indicating the critical value of shunt Mvar required for various degrees of series compensation and line lengths.

Retention Time Variability as a Mechanism for Animal Mediated Long-Distance Dispersal

Long-distance dispersal (LDD) events, although rare for most plant species, can strongly influence population and community dynamics. Animals function as a key biotic vector of seeds and thus, a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of how individual animal behaviors scale to dispersal patterns at different spatial scales is a question of critical importance from both basic and applied perspectives. Using a diffusion-theory based analytical approach for a wide range of animal movement and seed transportation patterns, we show that the scale (a measure of local dispersal) of the seed dispersal kernel increases with the organisms' rate of movement and mean seed retention time. We reveal that variations in seed retention time is a key determinant of various measures of LDD such as kurtosis (or shape) of the kernel, thinkness of tails and the absolute number of seeds falling beyond a threshold distance. Using empirical data sets of frugivores, we illustrate the importance of variability in retention times for predicting the key disperser species that influence LDD. Our study makes testable predictions linking animal movement behaviors and gut retention times to dispersal patterns and, more generally, highlights the potential importance of animal behavioral variability for the LDD of seeds.

An (O)over-bar(m(2)n) randomized algorithm to compute a minimum cycle basis of a directed graph

We consider the problem of computing a minimum cycle basis in a directed graph G. The input to this problem is a directed graph whose arcs have positive weights. In this problem a {- 1, 0, 1} incidence vector is associated with each cycle and the vector space over Q generated by these vectors is the cycle space of G. A set of cycles is called a cycle basis of G if it forms a basis for its cycle space. A cycle basis where the sum of weights of the cycles is minimum is called a minimum cycle basis of G. The current fastest algorithm for computing a minimum cycle basis in a directed graph with m arcs and n vertices runs in O(m(w+1)n) time (where w < 2.376 is the exponent of matrix multiplication). If one allows randomization, then an (O) over tilde (m(3)n) algorithm is known for this problem. In this paper we present a simple (O) over tilde (m(2)n) randomized algorithm for this problem. The problem of computing a minimum cycle basis in an undirected graph has been well-studied. In this problem a {0, 1} incidence vector is associated with each cycle and the vector space over F-2 generated by these vectors is the cycle space of the graph. The fastest known algorithm for computing a minimum cycle basis in an undirected graph runs in O(m(2)n + mn(2) logn) time and our randomized algorithm for directed graphs almost matches this running time.

Knowledge-Based Approach Using Support Vector Machine for Transmission Line Distance Relay Co-ordination

In this paper, knowledge-based approach using Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are used for estimating the coordinated zonal settings of a distance relay. The approach depends on the detailed simulation studies of apparent impedance loci as seen by distance relay during disturbance, considering various operating conditions including fault resistance. In a distance relay, the impedance loci given at the relay location is obtained from extensive transient stability studies. SVMs are used as a pattern classifier for obtaining distance relay co-ordination. The scheme utilizes the apparent impedance values observed during a fault as inputs. An improved performance with the use of SVMs, keeping the reach when faced with different fault conditions as well as system power flow changes, are illustrated with an equivalent 265 bus system of a practical Indian Western Grid.

Optimal placement of Distributed Generation for a projected load increase using Relative Electrical Distance approach

There is a lot of pressure on all the developed and second world countries to produce low emission power and distributed generation (DG) is found to be one of the most viable ways to achieve this. DG generally makes use of renewable energy sources like wind, micro turbines, photovoltaic, etc., which produce power with minimum green house gas emissions. While installing a DG it is important to define its size and optimal location enabling minimum network expansion and line losses. In this paper, a methodology to locate the optimal site for a DG installation, with the objective to minimize the net transmission losses, is presented. The methodology is based on the concept of relative electrical distance (RED) between the DG and the load points. This approach will help to identify the new DG location(s), without the necessity to conduct repeated power flows. To validate this methodology case studies are carried out on a 20 node, 66kV system, a part of Karnataka Transco and results are presented.

Percolation and connectivity in AB random geometric graphs

Given two independent Poisson point processes Phi((1)), Phi((2)) in R-d, the AB Poisson Boolean model is the graph with the points of Phi((1)) as vertices and with edges between any pair of points for which the intersection of balls of radius 2r centered at these points contains at least one point of Phi((2)). This is a generalization of the AB percolation model on discrete lattices. We show the existence of percolation for all d >= 2 and derive bounds fora critical intensity. We also provide a characterization for this critical intensity when d = 2. To study the connectivity problem, we consider independent Poisson point processes of intensities n and tau n in the unit cube. The AB random geometric graph is defined as above but with balls of radius r. We derive a weak law result for the largest nearest-neighbor distance and almost-sure asymptotic bounds for the connectivity threshold.

Use of Vertex Index in Structure-Activity Analysis and Design of Molecules

The last few decades have witnessed application of graph theory and topological indices derived from molecular graph in structure-activity analysis. Such applications are based on regression and various multivariate analyses. Most of the topological indices are computed for the whole molecule and used as descriptors for explaining properties/activities of chemical compounds. However, some substructural descriptors in the form of topological distance based vertex indices have been found to be useful in identifying activity related substructures and in predicting pharmacological and toxicological activities of bioactive compounds. Another important aspect of drug discovery e. g. designing novel pharmaceutical candidates could also be done from the distance distribution associated with such vertex indices. In this article, we will review the development and applications of this approach both in activity prediction as well as in designing novel compounds.

Non-monotonic, distance-dependent relaxation of water in reverse micelles: Propagation of surface induced frustration along hydrogen bond networks

Layer-wise, distance-dependent orientational relaxation of water confined in reverse micelles (RM) is studied using theoretical and computational tools. We use both a newly constructed ``spins on a ring'' (SOR) Ising-type model (with Shore-Zwanzig rotational dynamics) and atomistic simulations with explicit water. Our study explores the effect of reverse micelle size and role of intermolecular correlations, compromised by the presence of a highly polar surface, on the distance (from the interface) dependence of water relaxation. The ``spins on a ring'' model can capture some aspects of distance dependence of relaxation, such as acceleration of orientational relaxation at intermediate layers. In atomistic simulations, layer-wise decomposition of hydrogen bond formation pattern clearly reveals that hydrogen bond arrangement of water at a certain distance away from the surface can remain frustrated due to the interaction with the polar surface head groups. This layer-wise analysis also reveals the presence of a non-monotonic slow relaxation component which can be attributed to this frustration effect and which is accentuated in small to intermediate size RMs. For large size RMs, the long time component decreases monotonically from the interface to the interior of the RMs with slowest relaxation observed at the interface. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4732095]

Bond Graph Modeling for Energy-Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks

Researchers can use bond graph modeling, a tool that takes into account the energy conservation principle, to accurately assess the dynamic behavior of wireless sensor networks on a continuous basis.

Optimal Hop Distance and Power Control for a Single Cell, Dense, Ad Hoc Wireless Network

We consider a dense, ad hoc wireless network, confined to a small region. The wireless network is operated as a single cell, i.e., only one successful transmission is supported at a time. Data packets are sent between source-destination pairs by multihop relaying. We assume that nodes self-organize into a multihop network such that all hops are of length d meters, where d is a design parameter. There is a contention-based multiaccess scheme, and it is assumed that every node always has data to send, either originated from it or a transit packet (saturation assumption). In this scenario, we seek to maximize a measure of the transport capacity of the network (measured in bit-meters per second) over power controls (in a fading environment) and over the hop distance d, subject to an average power constraint. We first motivate that for a dense collection of nodes confined to a small region, single cell operation is efficient for single user decoding transceivers. Then, operating the dense ad hoc wireless network (described above) as a single cell, we study the hop length and power control that maximizes the transport capacity for a given network power constraint. More specifically, for a fading channel and for a fixed transmission time strategy (akin to the IEEE 802.11 TXOP), we find that there exists an intrinsic aggregate bit rate (Theta(opt) bits per second, depending on the contention mechanism and the channel fading characteristics) carried by the network, when operating at the optimal hop length and power control. The optimal transport capacity is of the form d(opt)((P) over bar (t)) x Theta(opt) with d(opt) scaling as (P) over bar (t) (1/eta), where (P) over bar (t) is the available time average transmit power and eta is the path loss exponent. Under certain conditions on the fading distribution, we then provide a simple characterization of the optimal operating point. Simulation results are provided comparing the performance of the optimal strategy derived here with some simple strategies for operating the network.

Factor graph based joint detection/decoding for LDPC coded large-MIMO systems

In this paper, we employ message passing algorithms over graphical models to jointly detect and decode symbols transmitted over large multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels with low density parity check (LDPC) coded bits. We adopt a factor graph based technique to integrate the detection and decoding operations. A Gaussian approximation of spatial interference is used for detection. This serves as a low complexity joint detection/decoding approach for large dimensional MIMO systems coded with LDPC codes of large block lengths. This joint processing achieves significantly better performance than the individual detection and decoding scheme.

Nonuniform random geometric graphs with location-dependent radii

We propose a distribution-free approach to the study of random geometric graphs. The distribution of vertices follows a Poisson point process with intensity function n f(center dot), where n is an element of N, and f is a probability density function on R-d. A vertex located at x connects via directed edges to other vertices that are within a cut-off distance r(n)(x). We prove strong law results for (i) the critical cut-off function so that almost surely, the graph does not contain any node with out-degree zero for sufficiently large n and (ii) the maximum and minimum vertex degrees. We also provide a characterization of the cut-off function for which the number of nodes with out-degree zero converges in distribution to a Poisson random variable. We illustrate this result for a class of densities with compact support that have at most polynomial rates of decay to zero. Finally, we state a sufficient condition for an enhanced version of the above graph to be almost surely connected eventually.