Logic programming and fuzzy Monte Carlo for distribution network reconfiguration

This paper present a methodology to choose the distribution networks reconfiguration that presents the lower power losses. The proposed methodology is based on statistical failure and repair data of the distribution power system components and uses fuzzy-probabilistic modeling for system component outage parameters. The proposed hybrid method using fuzzy sets and Monte Carlo simulation based on the fuzzyprobabilistic models allows catching both randomness and fuzziness of component outage parameters. A logic programming algorithm is applied, once obtained the system states by Monte Carlo Simulation, to get all possible reconfigurations for each system state. To evaluate the line flows and bus voltages and to identify if there is any overloading, and/or voltage violation an AC load flow has been applied to select the feasible reconfiguration with lower power losses. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology, the paper includes a case study that considers a 115 buses distribution network.

ANN based day-ahead ancillary services forecast for electricity market simulation

Adequate decision support tools are required by electricity market players operating in a liberalized environment, allowing them to consider all the business opportunities and take strategic decisions. Ancillary services (AS) represent a good negotiation opportunity that must be considered by market players. Based on the ancillary services forecasting, market participants can use strategic bidding for day-ahead ancillary services markets. For this reason, ancillary services market simulation is being included in MASCEM, a multi-agent based electricity market simulator that can be used by market players to test and enhance their bidding strategies. The paper presents the methodology used to undertake ancillary services forecasting, based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach. ANNs are used to day-ahead prediction of non-spinning reserve (NS), regulation-up (RU), and regulation down (RD). Spinning reserve (SR) is mentioned as past work for comparative analysis. A case study based on California ISO (CAISO) data is included; the forecasted results are presented and compared with CAISO published forecast.

Representations of Portugal in Herman Hesse

The aim of my research is to answer the question: How is Portugal seen by non-Portuguese fictionists? The main reason why I chose this research line is the following: Portuguese essayists like Eduardo Lourenço and José Gil (2005) focus their attention on the image or representation of Portugal as conceived by the Portuguese; indeed there is a tendency in Portuguese cultural studies (and, to a certain extent, also in Portuguese philosophical studies) to focus on studying the so-called ‗portugalidade‘ (portugueseness), i.e., the essence of being Portuguese. In my view, the problem with the studies I have been referring to is that everything is self-referential, and if ‗portugueseness‘ is an issue, then it might be useful, when dealing with it, to separate subject from object of observation. That is the reason why we, in the CEI (Centro de Estudos Interculturais), decided to start this research line, which is an inversion in the current tendency of the studies about ‗portugueseness‘: instead of studying the image or representation of Portugal by the Portuguese, my task is to study the image or representation of Portugal by the non-Portuguese, in this case, in non-Portuguese fiction. For the present paper I selected three writers of the 20th century: the German Hermann Hesse and the North-Americans Philip Roth and Paul Auster