ABSTRACT
Many students all over the world have faced some educational issues due to the Covid-19 epidemic. As a consequence, many educational institutes focused on shifting to an E-learning system. This paper introduces a design and implementation steps of a remotely controlled experiment representing a smart hydro energy storage and irrigation system with monitoring capability using photovoltaic power and the Internet of Things (IoT). The experiment is running within the newly proposed Laboratory Learning Management System (LLMS). The remotely controlled experiment is a smart hydro energy storage and irrigation system, where the stored water during the daytime is used at night for smart irrigation of three different types of plants based on the moisture and temperature, in addition to the amount of water that the user sets for every area. In this experiment, during the daytime, the utilities are feeding from the solar panel and battery, but at night, the utilities are feeding from the battery or the hydro turbine that converts the water potential energy to electric energy. The overall Experiment is controlled using IoT sensors and relays which are connected and driven by the parameters that the user sets and can be communicated with the system using the Internet which allows the system to be proactive and take the needed decision in the right time. The main contribution of this system's experiment is the pumping of underground water in irrigation using a renewable and clean energy source, in addition to controlling the systems using IoT through the proposed LLMS. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The exponential development of information and communication technology (ICT) through computer networks, Wi-Fi systems, wireless signals, and information storage systems has contributed to the transition to the so-called new economy, which is becoming increasingly digital and global. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking has begun to dramatically change the work dynamics for all stakeholders. The aim of this research was to identify the main impacting factors and their level of influence in relation to the macroeconomic context of teleworking, public policies, and the legal framework regarding quality of life, as well as the effects of teleworking on employees and employers. Through empirical research, we explored the perspectives of employees and employers as main stakeholders who had operated in the teleworking field within Suceava County in Romania during 2020. In this regard, we undertook exploratory research, the results of which were processed using SPSS v.20. The insightful results have practical implications for the labor market, where an obvious increase in the share of teleworking in the total forms of work has already occurred, and the relations between employer and employee are expected to become based more and more on cooperation and less on subordination. The results also revealed an important tendency of employees to appreciate the positive effects of teleworking on other aspects of life.
ABSTRACT
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, people have moved toward digitization and using digital technologies in their daily life. For instance, photographers and artists use social media platforms or stock photo websites to showcase their art to people to get recognition and credit. Since social media platforms attract people more than stock photo websites, we consider incorporating the stock photo website features into the social media platforms. Currently, such platforms are running in a centralized fashion where their proprietary algorithms mask most of the content to which some users and advertisement posts are given more priority. Due to the centralization, such hidden algorithms create trust issues among the users along with other issues such as single point of failure, identity theft, etc. This causes genuine artists and photographers to lose their interest and motivation. Providing due credit to the authors and deserved recognition are significant concerns for photographers who share images on stock photo websites or social media platforms. In this paper, we propose a decentralized image-sharing platform/application utilizing blockchain and a distributed file storage system to address all these issues. The proposed platform leverages Ethereum-based smart contracts to maintain trust as deployed smart contracts are immutable, and the logic written in them is publicly available. We leverage a distributed file storage system to solve the blockchain scalability issue in terms of storage. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The world has now looked towards installing more renewable energy sources type distributed generation (DG), such as solar photovoltaic DG (SPVDG), because of its advantages to the environment and the quality of power supply it produces. However, these sources' optimal placement and size are determined before their accommodation in the power distribution system (PDS). This is to avoid an increase in power loss and deviations in the voltage profile. Furthermore, in this article, solar PV is integrated with battery energy storage systems (BESS) to compensate for the shortcomings of SPVDG as well as the reduction in peak demand. This paper presented a novel coronavirus herd immunity optimizer algorithm for the optimal accommodation of SPVDG with BESS in the PDS. The proposed algorithm is centered on the herd immunity approach to combat the COVID-19 virus. The problem formulation is focused on the optimal accommodation of SPVDG and BESS to reduce the power loss and enhance the voltage profile of the PDS. Moreover, voltage limits, maximum current limits, and BESS charge-discharge constraints are validated during the optimization. Moreover, the hourly variation of SPVDG generation and load profile with seasonal impact is examined in this study. IEEE 33 and 69 bus PDSs are tested for the development of the presented work. The suggested algorithm showed its effectiveness and accuracy compared to different optimization techniques. © 2023 TÜBÍTAK.
ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. power sector witnessed remarkable electricity demand changes in many geographical regions. These changes were evident in population-dense cities. This paper incorporates a techno-economic analysis of energy storage systems (ESSs) to investigate the pandemic's influence on ESS development. In particular, we employ a linear program-based revenue maximization model to capture the revenues of ESS from participating in the electricity market, by performing arbitrage on the energy trading, and regulation market, by providing regulation services to stabilize the grid's frequency. We consider five dominant energy storage technologies in the U.S., namely, Lithium-ion, Advanced Lead Acid, Flywheel, Vanadium Redox Flow, and Lithium-Iron Phosphate storage technologies. Extensive numerical results conducted on the case of New York City (NYC) allow us to highlight the negative impact that COVID-19 had on the NYC power sector. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, people have moved toward digitization and using digital technologies in their daily life. For instance, photographers and artists use social media platforms or stock photo websites to showcase their art to people to get recognition and credit. Since social media platforms attract people more than stock photo websites, we consider incorporating the stock photo website features into the social media platforms. Currently, such platforms are running in a centralized fashion where their proprietary algorithms mask most of the content to which some users and advertisement posts are given more priority. Due to the centralization, such hidden algorithms create trust issues among the users along with other issues such as single point of failure, identity theft, etc. This causes genuine artists and photographers to lose their interest and motivation. Providing due credit to the authors and deserved recognition are significant concerns for photographers who share images on stock photo websites or social media platforms. In this paper, we propose a decentralized image-sharing platform/application utilizing blockchain and a distributed file storage system to address all these issues. The proposed platform leverages Ethereum-based smart contracts to maintain trust as deployed smart contracts are immutable, and the logic written in them is publicly available. We leverage a distributed file storage system to solve the blockchain scalability issue in terms of storage. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a time-series stochastic socioeconomic model for analyzing the impact of the pandemic on the regulated distribution electricity market. The proposed methodology combines the optimized tariff model (socioeconomic market model) and the random walk concept (risk assessment technique) to ensure robustness/accuracy. The model enables both a past and future analysis of the impact of the pandemic, which is essential to prepare regulatory agencies beforehand and allow enough time for the development of efficient public policies. By applying it to six Brazilian concession areas, results demonstrate that consumers have been/will be heavily affected in general, mainly due to the high electricity tariffs that took place with the pandemic, overcoming the natural trend of the market. In contrast, the model demonstrates that the pandemic did not/will not significantly harm power distribution companies in general, mainly due to the loan granted by the regulator agency, named COVID-account. Socioeconomic welfare losses averaging 500 (MR$/month) are estimated for the equivalent concession area, i.e., the sum of the six analyzed concession areas. Furthermore, this paper proposes a stochastic optimization problem to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the electricity market over time, considering the interests of consumers, power distribution companies, and the government. Results demonstrate that it is successful as the tariffs provided by the algorithm compensate for the reduction in demand while increasing the socioeconomic welfare of the market.
ABSTRACT
Despite substantial advancements in healthcare systems and management, little progress has been achieved in addressing supply chain constraints such as, inefficient purchasing, ordering, predicting, and administration procedures. Healthcare authorities needs to effectively manage the healthcare supply chain processes not just during pandemics like COVID-19, but also in their everyday operations to guarantee best possible services. Product recalls, product supply shortage monitoring, expiry, and counterfeiting are some of the critical healthcare supply chain operations which must be ensured. Our suggested solution combines blockchain technology and distributed storage to increase transparency, improve stakeholder communication, and shorten product procurement timelines while eliminating crucial disparities and faults. We present a generic framework for the healthcare supply chain, equipped with comprehensive algorithms showing various stakeholder interactions. Our system uses the Ethereum network to link all parties, including the healthcare authority, manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and healthcare provider. Remix IDE platform was used to develop and test the smart contract codes. As decentralized storage, we have used the combination of InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Hyperledger Fabric. We have also examined a variety of security issues, provided a cost analysis of the various transactions proposed in our solution while making comparison with similar blockchain-based solutions. © 2022 Owner/Author.
ABSTRACT
It has been crystal clear to everyone that the fresh air supply is one of the highest priorities to keep people under safe indoor conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In many buildings, either there are no mechanical ventilation systems or the air conditioning systems do not have adequate capacity to meet the additional cooling loads for the increased fresh air requirement. Providing fresh air without disturbing the thermal conditions in the building requires a substantially increased cooling load and operating costs. On the other hand, there may not be adequate power infrastructure to meet this additional energy demand item in many regions. In this technical brief paper, we aim to emphasize the importance of heat storage systems and provide a quick solution to illustrate that they can meet the fresh air demands without requiring additional chiller or chiller capacity. In addition, it is observed that heat storage systems can be a convenient solution to meet the urgent and additional cooling loads in a more sustainable way.
ABSTRACT
The City of Zagreb in Croatia and its surroundings have experienced two strong earthquakes within nine months of 2020. Putting this in the context of the increased workload of healthcare facilities due to Covid-19, the distribution system operator (DSO) is encouraged to look for unconventional solutions such as integrating the battery energy storage system (BESS) to supply healthcare facilities during network fault conditions or other extreme network events. The BESS size and location are determined by optimization model, while the control system of the BESS converter, based on the virtual synchronous machine (VSM) concept, is define to test BESS ability to supply critical consumers in the off-grid mode. The models are tested and verified on several real world situations in Zagreb MV distribution network. Future developments and scenarios are also simulated to verify the robustness of the proposed investment. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Distribution networks have undergone a series of changes, with the insertion of distributed energy resources, such as distributed generation, energy storage systems, and demand response, allowing the consumers to produce energy and have an active role in distribution systems. Thus, it is possible to form microgrids. From the active grid’s point of view, it is necessary to plan the operation considering the distributed resources and the microgrids connected to it, aiming to ensure the maintenance of grid economy and operational safety. So, this paper presents the proposition of a hierarchical model for planning the daily operation of active distribution grids with microgrids. In this case, the entire grid operation is optimized considering the results from the microgrid optimization itself. If none of the technical constraints, for example voltage levels, are reached, the grid is optimized, however, if there are some violations in the constraints feedback is sent to the internal microgrid optimization to be run again. Several scenarios are evaluated to verify the iteration among the controls in a coordinated way allowing the optimization of the operation of microgrids, as well as of the distribution network. A coordinated and hierarchical operation of active distribution networks with microgrids, specifically when they have distributed energy resources allocated and operated in an optimized way, results in a reduction in operating costs, losses, and greater flexibility and security of the whole system.
ABSTRACT
This study aims to develop and evaluate an Augmented Reality (AR) application to teach power electronics to beginners. For this purpose, two topics were presented: The first was the design of a series-connected Resistance–Inductor–Capacitor (RLC) circuit in AR, the space-state equations of which were analyzed in an interactive way, and its assembly in a virtual protoboard to analyze the voltage and currents as measured by an oscilloscope. The second presented topic in AR was about Bidirectional Direct Current (DC)–DC converters, known as Buck–Boost;the aim was to study their behavior when energy is exchanged between two systems, usually photovoltaic panels, electric vehicles, and storage systems. The attitudes of the students towards the AR application was significantly better than those towards traditional teaching. The measurements of the developed skills indicated better cognitive performance when using AR technology. The designed AR tool was used in an industry course to explore the students’ opinions, who provided valuable feedback.
ABSTRACT
Differing storage temperature requirements are not the only concern for COVID-19 vaccines. The entire vaccination process-from the original manufacturing to final vaccine administration-involves various refrigerated transportation and storage systems. This article describes various vaccine refrigerated transportation and storage technologies and systems recommendations for the general public and vaccine transport-related professionals.