A coordinated voltage control approach for coordination of OLTC, voltage regulator and DG to regulate voltage in a distribution feeder

Integration of small-scale electricity generators, known as Distributed Generation (DG), into the distribution networks has become increasingly popular at the present. This tendency together with the falling price of synchronous-type generator has potential to give the DG a better chance in participating in the voltage regulation process together with other devices already available in the system. The voltage control issue turns out to be a very challenging problem for the distribution engineers since existing control coordination schemes would need to be reconsidered to take into account the DG operation. In this paper, we propose a control coordination technique, which is able to utilize the ability of the DG as a voltage regulator, and at the same time minimizes interaction with other active devices, such as On-load Tap Changing Transformer (OLTC) and voltage regulator. The technique has been developed based on the concept of control zone, Line Drop Compensation (LDC), as well as the choice of controller's parameters. Simulations carried out on an Australian system show that the technique is suitable and flexible for any system with multiple regulating devices including DG.

Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders, Volume 3 : Interventions for Addiction

"Interventions for Addiction examines a wide range of responses to addictive behaviors, including psychosocial treatments, pharmacological treatments, provision of health care to addicted individuals, prevention, and public policy issues. Its focus is on the practical application of information covered in the two previous volumes of the series, Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. Readers will find information on treatments beyond commonly used methods, including Internet-based and faith-based therapies, and criminal justice interventions. The volume features extensive coverage of pharmacotherapies for each of the major drugs of abuse-including disulfiram, buprenorphine, naltrexone, and others-as well as for behavioral addictions. In considering public policy, the book examines legislative efforts, price controls, and limits on advertising, as well as World Health Organization (WHO) efforts. Interventions for Addiction is one of three volumes comprising the 2,500-page series, Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. This series provides the most complete collection of current knowledge on addictive behaviors and disorders to date. In short, it is the definitive reference work on addictions."--publisher website

Bilingualism, literacy and NAPLAN : ongoing challenges for EAL/D education [Editorial]

Advocacy is integral to the work of many TESOL specialists. For several decades, ACTA and the state TESOL associations, along with other professional associations, and individual teachers, researchers and administrators have all engaged with conversations about EAL/D education in public forums. These advocates have drawn attention to implications of policy developments for EAL/D students; they have proffered alternative forms of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to better account for the particularity of EAL/D learning pathways; they have argued the necessity of specialist EAL/D teaching. In response to the Australian Language and Literacy Policy of the early 1990s, for example, there was “a frenzy of writing responses… a conference… and attempts to publicise what was going on through the press and television” (Moore, 1995, p. 6). It is in this spirit that this double issue of TESOL in Context has been compiled...

The contributions of solar ultraviolet radiation exposure and other determinants to Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in Australian adults : the AusD study

The Quantitative Assessment of Solar UV [ultraviolet] Exposure for Vitamin D Synthesis in Australian Adults (AusD) Study aimed to better define the relationship between sun exposure and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration. Cross-sectional data were collected between May 2009 and December 2010 from 1,002 participants aged 18-75 years in 4 Australian sites spanning 24° of latitude. Participants completed the following: 1) questionnaires on sun exposure, dietary vitamin D intake, and vitamin D supplementation; 2) 10 days of personal ultraviolet radiation dosimetry; 3) a sun exposure and physical activity diary; and 4) clinical measurements and blood collection for 25(OH)D determination. Our multiple regression model described 40% of the variance in 25(OH)D concentration; modifiable behavioral factors contributed 52% of the explained variance, and environmental and demographic or constitutional variables contributed 38% and 10%, respectively. The amount of skin exposed was the single strongest contributor to the explained variance (27%), followed by location (20%), season (17%), personal ultraviolet radiation exposure (8%), vitamin D supplementation (7%), body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2) (4%), and physical activity (4%). Modifiable behavioral factors strongly influence serum 25(OH)D concentrations in Australian adults. In addition, latitude was a strong determinant of the relative contribution of different behavioral factors.

Transfer pricing and multinational financial institutions : the case for replacing arm’s length price with a unitary approach

The international tax system, designed a century ago, has not kept pace with the modern multinational entity rendering it ineffective in taxing many modern businesses according to economic activity. One of those modern multinational entities is the multinational financial institution (MNFI). The recent global financial crisis provides a particularly relevant and significant example of the failure of the current system on a global scale. The modern MNFI is increasingly undertaking more globalised and complex trading operations. A primary reason for the globalisation of financial institutions is that they typically ‘follow-the-customer’ into jurisdictions where international capital and international investors are required. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently reported that from 1995-2009, foreign bank presence in developing countries grew by 122 per cent. The same study indicates that foreign banks have a 20 per cent market share in OECD countries and 50 per cent in emerging markets and developing countries. Hence, most significant is that fact that MNFIs are increasingly undertaking an intermediary role in developing economies where they are financing core business activities such as mining and tourism. IMF analysis also suggests that in the future, foreign bank expansion will be greatest in emerging economies. The difficulties for developing countries in applying current international tax rules, especially the current traditional transfer pricing regime, are particularly acute in relation to MNFIs, which are the biggest users of tax havens and offshore finance. This paper investigates whether a unitary taxation approach which reflects economic reality would more easily and effectively ensure that the profits of MNFIs are taxed in the jurisdictions which give rise to those profits. It has previously been argued that the uniqueness of MNFIs results in a failure of the current system to accurately allocate profits and that unitary tax as an alternative could provide a sounder allocation model for international tax purposes. This paper goes a step further, and examines the practicalities of the implementation of unitary taxation for MNFIs in terms of the key components of such a regime, along with their their implications. This paper adopts a two-step approach in considering the implications of unitary taxation as a means of improved corporate tax coordination which requires international acceptance and agreement. First, the definitional issues of the unitary MNFI are examined and second, an appropriate allocation formula for this sector is investigated. To achieve this, the paper asks first, how the financial sector should be defined for the purposes of unitary taxation and what should constitute a unitary business for that sector and second, what is the ‘best practice’ model of an allocation formula for the purposes of the apportionment of the profits of the unitary business of a financial institution.

Demand-side response model to avoid spike of electricity price

The aim of this work is to develop a demand-side-response model, which assists electricity consumers exposed to the market price to independently and proactively manage air-conditioning peak electricity demand. The main contribution of this research is to show how consumers can optimize the energy cost caused by the air conditioning load considering to several cases e.g. normal price, spike price, and the probability of a price spike case. This model also investigated how air-conditioning applies a pre-cooling method when there is a substantial risk of a price spike. The results indicate the potential of the scheme to achieve financial benefits for consumers and target the best economic performance for electrical generation distribution and transmission. The model was tested with Queensland electricity market data from the Australian Energy Market Operator and Brisbane temperature data from the Bureau of Statistics regarding hot days from 2011 to 2012.

Defining expected cost for the air conditioning to avoid a price spike of electricity market under DSR model

This work presents a demand side response model (DSR) which assists small electricity consumers, through an aggregator, exposed to the market price to proactively mitigate price and peak impact on the electrical system. The proposed model allows consumers to manage air-conditioning when as a function of possible price spikes. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate how consumers can minimise the total expected cost by optimising air-conditioning to account for occurrences of a price spike in the electricity market. This model investigates how pre-cooling method can be used to minimise energy costs when there is a substantial risk of an electricity price spike. The model was tested with Queensland electricity market data from the Australian Energy Market Operator and Brisbane temperature data from the Bureau of Statistics during hot days on weekdays in the period 2011 to 2012.

Mid-Holocene sea-level and coral reef demise : U-Th dating of subfossil corals in Moreton Bay, Australia

It is increasingly apparent that sea-level data (e.g. microfossil transfer functions, dated coral microatolls and direct observations from satellite and tidal gauges) vary temporally and spatially at regional to local scales, thus limiting our ability to model future sea-level rise for many regions. Understanding sealevel response at ‘far-field��� locations at regional scales is fundamental for formulating more relevant sea-level rise susceptibility models within these regions under future global change projections. Fossil corals and reefs in particular are valuable tools for reconstructing past sea levels and possible environmental phase shifts beyond the temporal constraints of instrumental records. This study used abundant surface geochronological data based on in situ subfossil corals and precise elevation surveys to determine previous sea level in Moreton Bay, eastern Australia, a far-field site. A total of 64 U-Th dates show that relative sea level was at least 1.1 m above modern lowest astronomical tide (LAT) from at least ˜6600 cal. yr BP. Furthermore, a rapid synchronous demise in coral reef growth occurred in Moreton Bay ˜5800 cal. yr BP, coinciding with reported reef hiatus periods in other areas around the Indo-Pacific region. Evaluating past reef growth patterns and phases allows for a better interpretation of anthropogenic forcing versus natural environmental/climatic cycles that effect reef formation and demise at all scales and may allow better prediction of reef response to future global change.

A concise approach to the polycyclic scaffold of frondosin D

Frondosins A−E, 1−5 (Figure 1), are a family of related marine sesquiterpenoids first isolated in their dextro-rotatory form from the sponge Dysidea frondosa.(1a) Additionally, levo-rotatory frondosins A and D were isolated from an unidentified Eurospongia species.(1b) Frondosins A−E are compounds of interest due to their promising interleukin-8 (IL-8) affinity and protein kinase C inhibition.(1a) IL-8 antagonists are of particular interest in view of their antiinflammatory,(2a) anti-HIV,(1b, 2b) and antitumor(2c-2f) properties. To date, frondosins A, B, and C have been synthesized.(3) Notwithstanding these successes, the frondosins have proved quite a formidable synthetic challenge, and as of yet, there has been no synthesis of frondosin D or E. In this report, we describe our approaches to the molecular scaffold of frondosins D. This work has culminated in a very effective means of producing the trimethylbicyclo[5.4.0]undecane ring system common to all frondosins (shown in bold, Figure 1).

A detailed investigation of nominally 2-D radical-farming scramjet combustion

This paper reports on an investigation of the flow/chemistry coupling inside a nominally two-dimensional inlet-fuelled scramjet configuration. The experiments were conducted at a freestream Mach number of 7.3 and a total flow enthalpy of 4.3MJ/kg corresponding to a Mach 9.7 flight condition. The phenomenon of radical-farming has been studied in detail using two-dimensional OH* chemiluminescence imaging and emission spectroscopy. High signal levels of excited OH (OH*) were detected behind the first shock reflections inside the combustion chamber upstream of any measurable pressure rise from combustion, which occurred towards the rear of the combustor. The production of OH in the first hot pocket initiates the ignition process and then accelerates the combustion process in the next downstream hot pocket. This was confirmed by numerical simulations of premixed hydrogen/air flow through the scramjet. Chemical kinetics analyses reveal that the ignition process is governed by the interaction between various reaction groups leading to a chainbranching explosion for low mean temperature and pressure combustion flowfields.

High-level expression of Rhodotorula gracilis d-amino acid oxidase in Pichia pastoris

By combining gene design and heterologous over-expression of Rhodotorula gracilis D-amino acid oxidase (RgDAO) in Pichia pastoris, enzyme production was enhanced by one order of magnitude compared to literature benchmarks, giving 350 kUnits/l of fed-batch bioreactor culture with a productivity of 3.1 kUnits/l h. P. pastoris cells permeabilized by freeze-drying and incubation in 2-propanol (10% v/v) produce a highly active (1.6 kUnits/g dry matter) and stable oxidase preparation. Critical bottlenecks in the development of an RgDAO catalyst for industrial applications have been eliminated.

Stepwise engineering of a Pichia pastoris D-amino acid oxidase whole cell catalyst

Trigonopsis variabilis D-amino acid oxidase (TvDAO) is a well characterized enzyme used for cephalosporin C conversion on industrial scale. However, the demands on the enzyme with respect to activity, operational stability and costs also vary with the field of application. Processes that use the soluble enzyme suffer from fast inactivation of TvDAO while immobilized oxidase preparations raise issues related to expensive carriers and catalyst efficiency. Therefore, oxidase preparations that are more robust and active than those currently available would enable a much broader range of economically viable applications of this enzyme in fine chemical syntheses. A multi-step engineering approach was chosen here to develop a robust and highly active Pichia pastoris TvDAO whole-cell biocatalyst. As compared to the native T. variabilis host, a more than seven-fold enhancement of the intracellular level of oxidase activity was achieved in P. pastoris through expression optimization by codon redesign as well as efficient subcellular targeting of the enzyme to peroxisomes. Multi copy integration further doubled expression and the specific activity of the whole cell catalyst. From a multicopy production strain, about 1.3 x 103 U/g wet cell weight (wcw) were derived by standard induction conditions feeding pure methanol. A fed-batch cultivation protocol using a mixture of methanol and glycerol in the induction phase attenuated the apparent toxicity of the recombinant oxidase to yield final biomass concentrations in the bioreactor of >or= 200 g/L compared to only 117 g/L using the standard methanol feed. Permeabilization of P. pastoris using 10% isopropanol yielded a whole-cell enzyme preparation that showed 49% of the total available intracellular oxidase activity and was notably stabilized (by three times compared to a widely used TvDAO expressing Escherichia coli strain) under conditions of D-methionine conversion using vigorous aeration. Stepwise optimization using a multi-level engineering approach has delivered a new P. pastoris whole cell TvDAO biocatalyst showing substantially enhanced specific activity and stability under operational conditions as compared to previously reported preparations of the enzyme. The production of the oxidase through fed-batch bioreactor culture and subsequent cell permeabilization is high-yielding and efficient. Therefore this P. pastoris catalyst has been evaluated for industrial purposes.

Parameter estimation of structural commodity price models

Commodity price modeling is normally approached in terms of structural time-series models, in which the different components (states) have a financial interpretation. The parameters of these models can be estimated using maximum likelihood. This approach results in a non-linear parameter estimation problem and thus a key issue is how to obtain reliable initial estimates. In this paper, we focus on the initial parameter estimation problem for the Schwartz-Smith two-factor model commonly used in asset valuation. We propose the use of a two-step method. The first step considers a univariate model based only on the spot price and uses a transfer function model to obtain initial estimates of the fundamental parameters. The second step uses the estimates obtained in the first step to initialize a re-parameterized state-space-innovations based estimator, which includes information related to future prices. The second step refines the estimates obtained in the first step and also gives estimates of the remaining parameters in the model. This paper is part tutorial in nature and gives an introduction to aspects of commodity price modeling and the associated parameter estimation problem.

The heat shock protein 90 inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17- demethoxygeldanamycin, enhances osteoclast formation and potentiates bone metastasis of a human breast cancer cell line

Breast cancer metastasis to the bone occurs frequently, causing numerous complications including severe pain, fracture, hypercalcemia, and paralysis. Despite its prevalence and severity, few effective therapies exist. To address this, we examined whether the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), would be efficacious in inhibiting breast cancer metastasis to bone. Utilizing the human breast cancer subline, MDA-MB-231SA, previously in vivo selected for its enhanced ability to generate osteolytic bone lesions, we determined that 17-AAG potently inhibited its in vitro proliferation and migration. Moreover, 17-AAG significantly reduced MDA-MB-231SA tumor growth in the mammary-fat pad of nude mice. Despite these findings, 17-AAG enhanced the incidence of bone metastasis and osteolytic lesions following intracardiac inoculation in the nude mouse. Consistent with these findings, 17-AAG enhanced osteoclast formation 2- to 4-fold in mouse bone marrow/osteoblast cocultures, receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (BANKL)-stimulated bone marrow, and RAW264.7 cell models of in vitro osteoclastogenesis. Moreover, the drug enhanced osteoclastogenesis in human cord blood progenitor cells, demonstrating that its effects were not limited to mouse models. In addition to 17-AAG, other Hsp90 inhibitors, such as radicicol and herbimycin A, also enhanced osteoclastogenesis. A pro-osteolytic action of 17-AAG independent of tumor presence was also determined in vivo, in which 17-AAG-treated tumor-naive mice had reduced trabecular bone volume with an associated increase in osteoclast number. Thus, HSP90 inhibitors can stimulate osteoclast formation, which may underlie the increased incidence of osteolysis and skeletal tumor incidence causedby 17-AAG in vivo. These data suggest an important contraindication to the Hsp90 targeted cancer therapy currently undergoing clinical trial.

Epidermal growth factor promotes MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell migration through a phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase and phospholipase C-dependent mechanism

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) levels predict a poor outcome in human breast cancer and are most commonly associated with proliferative effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF), with little emphasis placed on motogenic responses to EGF. We found that MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells elicited a potent chemotactic response despite their complete lack of a proliferative response to EGF. Antagonists of EGFR ligation, the EGFR kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase, and phospholipase C, but not the mitogen- activated protein kinases (extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1 and 2), blocked MDA-MB-231 chemotaxis. These findings suggest that EGF may influence human breast cancer progression via migratory pathways, the signaling for which appears to be dissociated, at least in part, from the proliferative pathways.