The paper proposes a resource scheduling algorithm in a residential scenario. Owing to the new trends of consumers using renewable energy sources we need to utilize the energy harvested efficiently ...and economically. The proposed algorithm minimizes the cost of total energy consumed by an individual household. Here mainly the energy storage devices like battery are considered to support in improving the savings with efficient energy consumption pattern. The concept of battery scheduling put forward in this paper brings forth a flexible demand side management technique. In the conventional load management programs additional complex computations were involved while this simple resource scheduling algorithm gives good results and is easier to implement. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated through MATLAB simulations.
Short Term Hydrothermal Scheduling Using Reinforcement Learning Remya, S; Johnson, Jenifer Mariam; Ahamed, TP Imthias
2019 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Techniques in Control, Optimization and Signal Processing (INCOS),
2019-April
Conference Proceeding
An optimal solution to the problem of hydrothermal scheduling, using Reinforcement Learning, is presented in this paper. The objective is to minimize the cost of the thermal unit, by making use of ...the available hydropower, subjected to various equality and inequality constraints. The cost function with and without valve loading effect have been considered. MATLAB software was used to schedule a base system comprising a single hydrothermal unit. The Reinforcement Learning algorithm employed uses the Q learning technique for obtaining the optimal policy. The Epsilon greedy algorithm has been used to select the actions during the learning phase. The results obtained for the simple hydrothermal system for both cost functions have been presented. The optimal schedule obtained incurs a cost that is much below that obtained in literature.
Pectin is an abundant component in many fruit and vegetable wastes and could therefore be an excellent resource for biorefinery, but is currently underutilized. Fungal pectinases already play a ...crucial role for industrial purposes, such as for foodstuff processing. However, the regulation of pectinase gene expression is still poorly understood. For an optimal utilization of plant biomass for biorefinery and biofuel production, a detailed analysis of the underlying regulatory mechanisms is warranted. In this study, we applied the genetic resources of the filamentous ascomycete species Neurospora crassa to screen for transcription factors that play a major role in pectinase induction. Results: The pectin degradation regulator-1 (PDR-1) was identified through a transcription factor mutant screen in N. crassa. The Δpdr-1 mutant exhibited a severe growth defect on pectin and all tested pectin-related poly- and monosaccharides. Biochemical as well as transcriptional analyses of WT and the Δpdr-1 mutant revealed that while PDR-1-mediated gene induction was dependent on the presence of l-rhamnose, it also strongly affected the degradation of the homogalacturonan backbone. The expression of the endo-polygalacturonase gh28-1 was greatly reduced in the Δpdr-1 mutant, while the expression levels of all pectate lyase genes increased. Moreover, a pdr-1 overexpression strain displayed substantially increased pectinase production. Promoter analysis of the PDR-1 regulon allowed refinement of the putative PDR-1 DNA-binding motif. PDR-1 is highly conserved in filamentous ascomycete fungi and is present in many pathogenic and industrially important fungi. Our data demonstrate that the function of PDR-1 in N. crassa combines features of two recently described transcription factors in Aspergillus niger (RhaR) and Botrytis cinerea (GaaR). The results presented in this study contribute to a broader understanding of how pectin degradation is orchestrated in filamentous fungi and how it could be manipulated for optimized pectinase production.
Collaborative learning boosts student involvement and engagement to be responsible and accountable for the success of their own learning. However, developing critical collaborative skill is ...imperative for students to allow them to work in a collaborative environment. The proposed research followed an inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary collaborative approach where staff and students of Computing and Biotechnology Departments of two different Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Sultanate of Oman, collaboratively worked on solving a biological problem computationally. Ideas and information amongst students and staff were exchanged through social media platforms. Finally, the research outcome of the collaborative effort resulted in the development of a software which is freely accessible. The research paper describes the basis of setting up a collaborative research, implementation of the problem statement, final outcome of the collaboration, learner attributes achieved, challenges faced, and recommendations to the significance of inter-departmental collaborative efforts in HEIs.