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Scheduling of pumped-storage units at Taiwan Power Company (TPC) is investigated in this work. In addition to economic considerations, oscillatory stability of the system as affected by the operation of pumped-storage units is of major concern. To achieve a secure as well as economical dispatching schedule for the pumped-storage units, differential dynamic programming is first employed to reach a preliminary schedule in which total fuel cost of the thermal units over the study period is minimized. Oscillatory stability analysis of the system under the preliminary schedule is then performed by computing the eigenvalues and eigenvectors for all electromechanical modes. Sensitivities of the eigenvalues for the poorly-damped inter-area mode with respect to individual generator outputs are evaluated. Then a systematic approach based on linear programming is presented to refine the preliminary schedule in order to improve the damping for the inter-area mode. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by short term operational planning of Taiwan power system. keyword: power system operational planning, hydro scheduling, pumped-storage unit, oscillatory stability, low frequency oscillations, linear programming

Investigates whether the L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway is involved in the neurotransmission of paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus activation-induced penile erection in the rat. Cannulation of the femoral artery; Measurement of systemic and mean arterial pressure; Measurement of intracavernous pressure.

This study was to investigate the effect of dietary L-theanine (THE) supplementation (0, 600 mg/kg) on growth performance, carcass traits, immune organ indexes, meat quality, and muscle antioxidant status of transported broilers. A total of 180 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers were randomly allotted to 2 treatment groups including a THE-free group with 12 replicates of 10 birds each and a THE group with 6 replicates of 10 birds each. On the morning of day 42, after a 9-h fast, the birds of THE-free group were divided into 2 equal groups, and then all birds in the 3 groups were placed into 18 crates and were transported according to the following protocols: 0-h transport of birds in the THE-free group (control group), 3-h transport of birds in the THE-free group (T group), and 3-h transport of birds in the THE group (T + THE group). Results showed that dietary THE supplementation improved feed conversion ratio and birds' final body weight (P < 0.05), while transport and dietary THE supplementation did not affect carcass traits of broilers (P > 0.05). Transport increased bird live weight loss, drip loss, L* 24 h , muscle malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC) and lactate contents, while it decreased thymus, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius indexes, pH 24h , a*, and muscle total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities and glycogen content (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, compared with birds in the T group, birds in the T + THE group exhibited increased thymus, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius indexes, pH 24h , a* 24 h , and muscle T-AOC, CAT, and GSH-PX activities and glycogen content, and decreased drip loss, L* 24 h , and muscle MDA, PC, and lactate contents (P < 0.05). This study provided the first evidence that dietary THE supplementation prevented transport-stress-impaired immune organ indexes and meat quality of broilers, and the reason for maintenance of meat quality by supplementation of THE may be partly ascribed to the changed muscle glycolysis metabolism and antioxidant status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]