Characteristic study, its identification and self-tuned approach to control hydro-power plants

The water time constant and mechanical time constant greatly influences the power and speed oscillations of hydro-turbine-generator unit. This paper discusses the turbine power transients in response to different nature and changes in the gate position. The work presented here analyses the characteristics of hydraulic system with an emphasis on changes in the above time constants. The simulation study is based on mathematical first-, second-, third- and fourth-order transfer function models. The study is further extended to identify discrete time-domain models and their characteristic representation without noise and with noise content of 10 & 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The use of self-tuned control approach in minimising the speed deviation under plant parameter changes and disturbances is also discussed.

Association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness in European adolescents: the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Study

Objective: To examine the association of breakfast consumption with objectively measured and self-reported physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness. Design: The HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) Cross-Sectional Study. Breakfast consumption was assessed by two non-consecutive 24 h recalls and by a ‘Food Choices and Preferences’ questionnaire. Physical activity, sedentary time and physical fitness components (cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness and speed/agility) were measured and self-reported. Socio-economic status was assessed by questionnaire. Setting: Ten European cities. Subjects: Adolescents (n 2148; aged 12?5–17?5 years). Results: Breakfast consumption was not associated with measured or self-reported physical activity. However, 24 h recall breakfast consumption was related to measured sedentary time in males and females; although results were not confirmed when using other methods to assess breakfast patterns or sedentary time. Breakfast consumption was not related to muscular fitness and speed/agility in males and females. However, male breakfast consumers had higher cardiorespiratory fitness compared with occasional breakfast consumers and breakfast skippers, while no differences were observed in females. Overall, results were consistent using different methods to assess breakfast consumption or cardiorespiratory fitness (all P#0?005). In addition, both male and female breakfast skippers (assessed by 24 h recall) were less likely to have high measured cardiorespiratory fitness compared with breakfast consumers (OR50?33; 95% CI 0?18, 0?59 and OR50?56; 95 %CI 0?32, 0?98,respectively). Results persisted across methods. Conclusions: Skipping breakfast does not seem to be related to physical activity,sedentary time or muscular fitness and speed/agility as physical fitness components in European adolescents; yet it is associated with both measured and self-reported cardiorespiratory fitness, which extends previous findings.

Improving photovoltaics grid integration through short time forecasting and self-consumption

The uncertainty associated to the forecast of photovoltaic generation is a major drawback for the widespread introduction of this technology into electricity grids. This uncertainty is a challenge in the design and operation of electrical systems that include photovoltaic generation. Demand-Side Management (DSM) techniques are widely used to modify energy consumption. If local photovoltaic generation is available, DSM techniques can use generation forecast to schedule the local consumption. On the other hand, local storage systems can be used to separate electricity availability from instantaneous generation; therefore, the effects of forecast error in the electrical system are reduced. The effects of uncertainty associated to the forecast of photovoltaic generation in a residential electrical system equipped with DSM techniques and a local storage system are analyzed in this paper. The study has been performed in a solar house that is able to displace a residential user?s load pattern, manage local storage and estimate forecasts of electricity generation. A series of real experiments and simulations have carried out on the house. The results of this experiments show that the use of Demand Side Management (DSM) and local storage reduces to 2% the uncertainty on the energy exchanged with the grid. In the case that the photovoltaic system would operate as a pure electricity generator feeding all generated electricity into grid, the uncertainty would raise to around 40%.

Peer Assessment and Self-assessment: Effective Learning Tools in Higher Education.

When used appropriately, self- and peer-assessment are very effective learning tools. In the present work, instructor formative assessment and feedback, self-assessment (SA), and peer-assessment (PA) have been compared. During the first part of a semester, the students followed a continuous formative assessment. Subsequently, they were divided into two subgroups based on similar performances. One subgroup performed SAs, and the other followedPAduring the last part of the course. The performances of the two groups in solving problems were compared. Results suggest that PA is a more effective learning tool than SA, and both are more effective than instructor formative assessment. However, a survey that was conducted at the end of the experiment showed higher student confidence in instructor assessment than in PA. The students recognized the usefulness of acting as peer assessors, but believed that SA helped them more than PA.

Chromophore-assisted light inactivation and self-organization of microtubules and motors

Chromophore-assisted light inactivation (CALI) offers the only method capable of modulating specific protein activities in localized regions and at particular times. Here, we generalize CALI so that it can be applied to a wider range of tasks. Specifically, we show that CALI can work with a genetically inserted epitope tag; we investigate the effectiveness of alternative dyes, especially fluorescein, comparing them with the standard CALI dye, malachite green; and we study the relative efficiencies of pulsed and continuous-wave illumination. We then use fluorescein-labeled hemagglutinin antibody fragments, together with relatively low-power continuous-wave illumination to examine the effectiveness of CALI targeted to kinesin. We show that CALI can destroy kinesin activity in at least two ways: it can either result in the apparent loss of motor activity, or it can cause irreversible attachment of the kinesin enzyme to its microtubule substrate. Finally, we apply this implementation of CALI to an in vitro system of motor proteins and microtubules that is capable of self-organized aster formation. In this system, CALI can effectively perturb local structure formation by blocking or reducing the degree of aster formation in chosen regions of the sample, without influencing structure formation elsewhere.

Calcium channel activation and self-biting in mice

The L type calcium channel agonist (±)Bay K 8644 has been reported to cause characteristic motor abnormalities in adult mice. The current study shows that administration of this drug can also cause the unusual phenomenon of self-injurious biting, particularly when given to young mice. Self-biting is provoked by injecting small quantities of (±)Bay K 8644 directly into the lateral ventricle of the brain, suggesting a central effect of the drug. Similar behaviors can be provoked by administration of another L type calcium channel agonist, FPL 64176. The self-biting provoked by (±)Bay K 8644 can be inhibited by pretreating the mice with dihydropyridine L type calcium channel antagonists such as nifedipine, nimodipine, or nitrendipine. However, self-biting is not inhibited by nondihydropyridine antagonists including diltiazem, flunarizine, or verapamil. The known actions of (±)Bay K 8644 as an L type calcium channel agonist, the reproduction of similar behavior with another L type calcium channel agonist, and the protection afforded by certain L type calcium channel antagonists implicate calcium channels in the mediation of the self-biting behavior. This phenomenon provides a model for studying the neurobiology of this unusual behavior.

The paradox of alloreactivity and self MHC restriction: Quantitative analysis and statistics

Although 1–24% of T cells are alloreactive, i.e., respond to MHC molecules encoded by a foreign haplotype, it is generally believed that T cells cannot recognize foreign peptides binding foreign MHC molecules. We show using a quantitative model that, if T cell selection and activation are affinity-driven, then an alloreactivity of 1–24% is incompatible with the textbook notion that self MHC restriction is absolute. If an average of 1% of clones are alloreactive, then according to our model, at most 20-fold more clones should, on average, be activated by antigens presented on self MHC than by antigens presented on foreign MHC. This ratio is at best 5 if alloreactivity is 5%. These results describe average properties of the murine immune system, but not the outcome of individual experiments. Using supercomputer technology, we simulated 100,000 MHC restriction experiments. Although the average restriction ratio was 7.1, restriction was absolute in 10% of the simulated experiments, greater than 100, although not absolute, in 29%, and below 6 in 24%. This extreme variability agrees with experimental estimates. Our analysis suggests that alloreactivity and average self MHC restriction both cannot be high, but that a low average restriction level is compatible with high levels in a significant number of experiments.

Income distribution, socioeconomic status, and self rated health in the United States: multilevel analysis

Objective: To determine the effect of inequalities in income within a state on self rated health status while controlling for individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status.

Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: Relation to a default mode of brain function

Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is among those brain regions having the highest baseline metabolic activity at rest and one that exhibits decreases from this baseline across a wide variety of goal-directed behaviors in functional imaging studies. This high metabolic rate and this behavior suggest the existence of an organized mode of default brain function, elements of which may be either attenuated or enhanced. Extant data suggest that these MPFC regions may contribute to the neural instantiation of aspects of the multifaceted “self.” We explore this important concept by targeting and manipulating elements of MPFC default state activity. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, subjects made two judgments, one self-referential, the other not, in response to affectively normed pictures: pleasant vs. unpleasant (an internally cued condition, ICC) and indoors vs. outdoors (an externally cued condition, ECC). The ICC was preferentially associated with activity increases along the dorsal MPFC. These increases were accompanied by decreases in both active task conditions in ventral MPFC. These results support the view that dorsal and ventral MPFC are differentially influenced by attentiondemanding tasks and explicitly self-referential tasks. The presence of self-referential mental activity appears to be associated with increases from the baseline in dorsal MPFC. Reductions in ventral MPFC occurred consistent with the fact that attention-demanding tasks attenuate emotional processing. We posit that both self-referential mental activity and emotional processing represent elements of the default state as represented by activity in MPFC. We suggest that a useful way to explore the neurobiology of the self is to explore the nature of default state activity.

Dyslexia: Success, Failure, and Self-Concept

The purpose of this study is to investigate the experience of college-aged students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. Research has shown that many people with dyslexia experience a variety of social and emotional struggles throughout their education. Using qualitative research techniques, this study provides a description of the experience common among college students with dyslexia. Specifically, the study examines the experience of dyslexic students as it relates to attributions of successes and failures, locus of control, self-concept, and how personal knowledge about the diagnosis impacts their experience.

Exploring How AFFECT (A Family Focused Emotion Communication Training) and Self Psychology Are Mutually Enhancing

This paper implicitly advocates for a rapprochement between psychodynamic and behavioral approaches to psychotherapy, by exploring the similarities and differences between self psychology and A Family Focused Emotion Communication Training (AFFECT), a behavioral parent training model. Self psychology, a theory with broad applicability, has been applied to several modalities besides behavioral ones. Generally speaking, self psychology and AFFECT are both relational approaches to psychotherapy that emphasize the impact of parent responsiveness, more specifically empathic attunement, on a child's emotional development and emotion regulation. Differentiating aspects of each model are identified to enhance the other model. AFFECT has relevance for pushing self psychology theory more in the direction of operations, which has implications for enhancing the research potential of self psychology, as well as for the training of the self-psychologist. Conversely, self psychology has relevance for coaching the parent with low self-esteem and decreased self-efficacy in AFFECT, which has potential implications for AFFECT treatment outcomes.

The Relationship Between Social Support and Self-Advocacy in College Students With Disabilities

This study explored the connection between social support and self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. The College Students with Disabilities Campus Climate Survey (Lombardi, Gerdes, & Murray, 2011) was used to gather data from undergraduate students at a midsize western private university. Social support was found to be a significant predictor of self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. Peer support, family support, and faculty teaching practices made up the construct of social support. Peer support and faculty teaching practices were found to be significant predictors of student self-advocacy. Family support was not found to be significant. The data was examined for group differences between genders, disability types, and disability status (high incidence disabilities versus low incidence disabilities). No significant group differences were found. These findings suggest helping students build social support will increase their level of self-advocacy, which in turn may increase academic success.

Social anxiety and self-concept in adolescence

This study analyzes the relationships between social anxiety and dimensions of self-concept in a sample of 2022 (50.1% males) Spanish adolescents, ranging in age from 12 to 16 year-olds. The social anxiety was assessed by the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI), and self-concept was measured with the Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQ-II). Logistic regression analyses show that adolescents with social anxiety are more likely to negatively perceive their relationship with opposite sex peers and have lower scores in self-esteem than students without social anxiety. Furthermore, in most logistic models, students with social anxiety also show a higher probability of perceiving their relation with peers of the same sex in a negative way, considering worse student, less attractive and athletic, and more emotional instable than students without social anxiety. The relevance of sex and grade in the relationship between social anxiety and self-concept in adolescence is discussed.

Goal Orientation Profiles and Self-Concept of Secondary School Students

The objective of this study is to identify possible combinations of multiple goals that lead to different goal orientation profiles and to determine whether there are significant group differences in self-concept dimensions. The Achievement Goals Tendencies Questionnaire (AGTQ) and the Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II) were administered to a sample of 2,022 students of Compulsory Secondary education, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years (M = 13.81, SD = 1.35). Cluster analysis identified four profiles of motivational goals: a group of students with a generalized high motivation profile, a group of students with generalized low motivation profile, a group of students with a predominance of learning goals and achievement goals, and a last group of students with a predominance of achievement goals and social reinforcement goals. Results reveal statistically significant differences among the profiles obtained regarding self-concept dimensions.