Short-term load prediction is a key component of the daily operation and planning activities of an electric utility.In this paper, the authors utilized the concept of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) using the Kohonen's self organizing feature map; which is back-propagating in nature. Historical data were used to train the ANN with learning rate = 0.7 and momentum = 0.4. The proposed methodolo...

Programmable vector elds are an abstraction to represent a new class of devices for distributed, non-prehensile manipulation for applications in parts feeding, sorting, positioning, and assembly. Unlike robot grippers, conveyor belts, or vibratory bowl feeders, these devices generate force vector elds in which the parts move until they may reach a stable equilibrium pose. Recent research in the...

Ammonia (NH3) volatilized from broiler litter diminishes indoor air quality, which can potentially decrease bird productivity. Emissions of NH3 exhausted from broiler houses pose environmental concerns for ecosystem biodiversity, aquatic nutrient enrichment, and particulate formation in the atmosphere. Research was conducted sampling litter (rice hull base) in 3 tunnel-ventilated commercial bro...

The external mucus layers of the stony coral Porites astreoides and the soft corals Palythoa sp. and Heteroxeniu fuscesens are inhabited by communities of marinc heterotrophic bacteria. Population levels of bacteria in coral mucus may be regulated by the self-cleaning behavior of the host. Bacterial populations in coral mucus respond to stresses applied to the host coral by growing to higher po...

The paper proposes a self-learning evolutionary multi-agent system for distribution network reconfiguration. The network reconfiguration is modeled as a multi-objective combinational optimization. An autonomous agent-entity cognizes the physical aspects as operational states of the local substation, the agent-entities establish relationship network based on the interactions to provide service. ...

Direct and indirect effects of predators are highly variable in complex communities, and understanding the sources of this variation is a research priority in community ecology. Recent evidence indicates that herbivore community structure is a primary determinant of predation strength and its cascading impacts on plants. In this study, we use variation in herbivore community structure among pla...

The persistence of mutualisms despite the strong incidence of exploiters could be explained if exploiters deny one or more services (i.e., cheat) while eventually supplying some subtler but critical services. Pulp feeders usually ingest fruit reward without dispersing seeds and thus are considered to be mainly cheaters or thieves of seed-disperser mutualisms. By consuming the fruit pulp, howeve...

Interacting with nature is widely recognised as providing many health and well-being benefits. As people live increasingly urbanised lifestyles, the provision of food for garden birds may create a vital link for connecting people to nature and enabling them to access these benefits. However, it is not clear which factors determine the pleasure that people receive from watching birds at their fe...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a prevention program for infant sleep and cry problems and postnatal depression. METHODS: Randomized controlled trial with 781 infants born at 32 weeks or later in 42 well-child centers, Melbourne, Australia. Follow-up occurred at infant age 4 and 6 months. The intervention including supplying information about normal infant sleep and cry patterns, settling techniques, me...

Development of generic differentiation protocols that function in a range of independently-derived human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines remains challenging due to considerable diversity in culture methods practiced between lines. Maintenance of BG01 and HUES-7 has routinely been on mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder layers using manual- and trypsin-passaging, respectively. We adapted bot...