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Chance-constrained economic dispatch (CCED) is widely used to cope with uncertainties brought by renewable energy sources. In CCED, security of power system is guaranteed by restricting risks under permitted level. As the penetration rate of renewable energy increases rapidly, the CCED model may be infeasible because of inadequate system reserve and/or transmission congestion under certain circumstances. Therefore, the curtailment of renewable energy is indispensable to guarantee security in some scenarios for power systems with high penetration of renewable energy. To address this crucial issue, this paper proposes a novel CCED model, where generation of conventional units and curtailment strategies of renewable energy are co-optimized to minimize total operational cost and restrict operational risks. An efficient solution method is developed to schedule generation and curtailment sequentially, in which tractable optimization models are formulated for each step. Numerical tests demonstrate that the proposed model can significantly reduce the probability of emergency control of curtailment compared with conventional CCED models. Furthermore, this solution method also outperforms scenario-based method with significantly improved computational efficiency and higher-quality solution.

The paper presents the results of research on methods for constructing knowledge bases of decision support systems for dispatch control of power supply systems in crisis situations. Models of products based on Petri nets are proposed for assessing the parameters of reliability of power supply systems. An algorithm for calculating the reliability parameters of the electrical network using analytical matrix equations of Petri nets has been implemented. The work is devoted to the topical problem of intellectualization of power supply systems and means of automation of control of large power systems. The relevance of research in the field of building intelligent power systems is grounded. The basic requirements for the reliability of modern power supply systems are formulated. The concept of intellectualization of power systems and management of their reliability is a stable trend in the development of large energy systems and automated dispatch control systems. The solution to the problem lies in the implementation of intelligent decision support systems. The main task of the work is to model the reliability of the power supply system in order to build an effective knowledge base about the parameters of the reliability of the power supply system. For this purpose, we use a probabilistic approach to assessing reliability. This approach is based on the concepts of the probability of failure-free operation and the probability of failure, which are expressed in terms of the failure rate. On the basis of the obtained models, the construction of intelligent software systems for dispatching can be carried out taking into account the reliability indicators of the components of power supply systems. As a mechanism for formalizing failure circuits in power supply circuits, the production approach of knowledge representation is applied, which implements conjunctive-disjunctive connections of statements associated with failures. The outlined approach is invariant in relation to subject areas, which makes it possible to build effective decision support systems in the field of operational emergency control of the energy system.

The presented paper investigates the problem of ensuring the safety of modern vessels, represented as complex organizational and technical systems. This study solves the task of diagnosing and predicting the level of ships’ operational reliability using a hybrid expert system based on a combination of a neural network and fuzzy logic. Trends in modern control systems show that they must be adaptive and intelligent. However, these requirements cannot be met by expert systems based only on fuzzy logic. This work explores the possibility of combining neural network modules with fuzzy logic and considers the features of emergency management stages based on the offered hybrid expert system. The input information arrives in a knowledge base through gauges, where it is structured and distributed in the form of performance indicators. Emergency recommendations for the operator are formed as a result of a combination of performance indicators available in the knowledge base. Modules of the neural network and fuzzy logic form a system for assessing a complex technical system’s health based on calculated estimates of the health of technical nodes. In addition, the authors formed a hierarchy of factors affecting the reliability of the system. While developing the knowledge base, critical values for each variable influencing the system performance are set, and when the values are reached, the operation mode becomes an emergency. The authors chose a multilayer perceptron with a layer of recurrent neurons and inputs as fed factors and criteria for performance; one output displays the value of system performance. Prediction of the technical state of the system is made based on time series analysis. The system with six variables was used as a test set, three of which are non-linguistic (efficiency coefficient, temperature, and pressure). The standard linguistic variable, calculated by the neural network, includes speed, fuel consumption, and wear of the node. The fuzzy logic module was used to form recommendations for the prevention or elimination of an emergency.

PurposeThe application of the traditional failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) technique has been widely questioned in evaluation information, risk factor weights and robustness of results. This paper develops a novel FMEA framework with extended MULTIMOORA method under interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy environment to solve these problems.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces innovatively interval-value Pythagorean fuzzy weighted averaging (IVPFWA) operator, Tchebycheff metric distance and interval-value Pythagorean fuzzy weighted geometric (IVPFWG) operator into the MULTIMOORA submethods to obtain the risk ranking order for emergencies. Finally, an illustrative case is provided to demonstrate the practicality and feasibility of the novel fuzzy FMEA framework.FindingsThe feasibility and validity of the proposed method are verified by comparing with the existing methods. The calculation results indicate that the proposed method is more consistent with the actual situation of project and has more reference value.Practical implicationsThe research results can provide supporting information for risk management decisions and offer decision-making basis for formulation of the follow-up emergency control and disposal scheme, which has certain guiding significance for the practical popularization and application of risk management strategies in the infrastructure projects.Originality/valueA novel approach using FMEA with extended MULTIMOORA method is developed under IVPF environment, which considers weights of risk factors and experts. The method proposed has significantly improved the integrity of information in expert evaluation and the robustness of results.

The operation of transmission systems with large share of wind power is specially challenging under storm conditions. Under the stormy wind speed conditions, wind turbine protection system is designed to shut down the turbine to avoid excessive mechanical load. The sudden loss of wind power from large offshore plants is difficult to forecast accurately, which results in a large amount of power imbalance. The severity of such a wind power imbalance towards frequency stability needs to be studied for the future power systems. In addition, the overhead transmission lines can also be affected during storms, thereby increasing their probability of failure in the operation of power system under the islanded conditions. This paper investigates how the stormy weather can threaten the frequency stability of future Danish power system with large share of wind power and how to avoid the frequency instability through proper control and defence strategies such as high-voltage direct current (HVDC) control and load shedding. Sensitivity studies are performed for ramp rates of HVDC control, loadshedding strategies, inertia of the system with different volumes of disturbances to understand their impact on frequency stability.

The real-time transient stability assessment (TSA) and emergency control are effective measures to suppress accident expansion, prevent system instability, and avoid large-scale power outages in the event of power system failure. However, real-time assessment is extremely demanding on computing speed, and the traditional method is not competent. In this paper, an improved deep belief network (DBN) is proposed for the fast assessment of transient stability, which considers the structural characteristics of power system in the construction of loss function. Deep learning has been effective in many fields, but usually is considered as a black-box model. From the perspective of machine learning interpretation, this paper proposes a local linear interpreter (LLI) model, and tries to give a reasonable interpretation of the relationship between the system features and the assessment result, and illustrates the conversion process from the input feature space to the high-dimension representation space. The proposed method is tested on an IEEE new England test system and demonstrated on a regional power system in China. The result demonstrates that the proposed method has rapidity, high accuracy and good interpretability in transient stability assessment.

The purpose of the article is to study the possibility and feasibility of participation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) with VVER in emergency frequency control in power systems with a high proportion of nuclear power units and, at the same time, of reducing the power consumption for the own needs of the main circulation pumps during modes with power below nominal. To solve these problems, it was proposed to increase the achievable speeds of power gain (load increase) due to the installation of frequency controlled drives of the MCP. Large system frequency variations (caused by large imbalances between generation and demand) may jeopardize electrical equipment, in terms of maintaining stable and reliable operating conditions. For NPPs, the task of preventing or localizing accidents is even more important than for TPPs, since in case of major system accidents, it is possible to completely stop external power supply of the NPPs own needs. Thus, besides the requirements for the primary control of the frequency of NPPs with VVER, today we need more stringent requirements for their emergency acceleration and mobility. The operation of NPPs with long-term non-recoverable active power shortage causes a decrease in the speed of the main circulation pumps of NPPs with VVER and a decrease in the coolant flow rate. It is shown that the installation of variable frequency drives of the MCPs at NPP with VVER is appropriate not only to save energy consumption for their drive in partial modes, but also to increase the power of NPP above the nominal (without reducing the reserve before the heat exchange crisis in the reactor core) for the elimination of system accidents, and thus to improve the safety of the NPPs included in the power system.

In preparation for Superstorm Sandy, the emergency control center at Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) was activated. Patients were evacuated safely to increase hospital capacity, including increased critical care beds, hospital equipment and supplies, including ventilators. A triage center was established in the emergency department at LHH. Efforts were coordinated between LHH and New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center. NYU medical staff was granted Disaster Emergency privileges, credentialed at LHH, and oriented to LHH. NYU residents and fellows were added by the Office of Graduate Medical Education.

Underground coal mining is recognized all over the world as one of the riskiest industrial operations. To improve the safety management model in underground coal mines from passive management to active management, the risk precontrol continuum and risk gradient control in underground coal mining are proposed in this paper. The risk precontrol continuum is a continuous process in which three risk state correspond to three management models. Specifically, the stable safety state corresponds to the hazard management model whose management objectives are hazards; the unstable safety state corresponds to the defect management model whose management objectives are hidden dangers; and the emergency accidents state corresponds to the emergency management model whose management objectives are emergencies. These three management models exist simultaneously, and each management model plays a role in precontrol to eliminate or reduce certain risks. The management level of these three management models determines the risk precontrol level and risk level of a coal mining enterprise. Moreover, the three management models are not isolated or fragmented but are linked and form the risk precontrol continuum together. The risk precontrol level and management initiative rise continuously from emergency management model to defect management model to hazard management model. Finally, the idea of risk gradient control is proposed based on the risk precontrol continuum, which includes three gradients from high to low, namely, hazard control, hidden danger control, and emergency control.

This paper proposes a novel methodology for emergency control acting on the mechanical power in a power grid containing steam power generators that experiences a contingency. The control strategy is based on model-predictive control (MPC), a model-based control that is widely adopted for the regulation of linear and nonlinear dynamical systems in various fields of application. The MPC is applied in a decentralized formulation, where only local measurements are necessary. The performances of the proposed control strategy are assessed by means of simulations on a Western Electricity Coordinating Council test case network and on the 39-Bus New England network. The results highlight both the good behavior of the MPC control technique, even in conditions that traditional emergency control would not support, and the robustness of the proposed structure against power system modeling approximations.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than thousands of people lose their lives from road accidents and nearly twenty percent of these occur in remote areas. The Blackbox project is used to monitor the real time values of the sensors and determine the occurrence of accidents. It also analyzes the cause, time, location of the accident making it possible for the emergency service to reach out for the victim as soon as possible. Alongside monitoring, the values are also being stored in a storage device and also updated on the IoT cloud with the help of Wifi. The exact location of the accident is sent to the emergency contact for immediate assistance. It also includes security measures for the safety of the vehicle. It also includes an on-board emergency control which can be accessed manually by the user.

Modern gas-turbine units (GTUs) and gas-reciprocating units (GRUs) have found a wide use at power plants, including distributed generation facilities, running on gaseous fuel. The design features of these generating units have a considerable effect on the nature and parameters of transient processes due to emergency disturbances in the adjacent network. The study shows that single-shaft gas-turbine and gas-reciprocating units do not allow even short-term considerable frequency drops. These schemes and operating conditions arise due to emergency active power shortages when the connection between the power plant and the power system weakens due to repair conditions or islanded operation. The paper presents the results of transient process calculations for operating power plants (distributed generation facilities), which make it possible to identify the unfavorable properties of GTUs and GRUs. The results show that two-shaft (three-shaft) GTUs and GRUs can switch to out-of-step conditions even when short-circuits in the adjacent network are cleared with high-speed relay protection devices. The features of out-of-step conditions and the admissibility of their short-term duration for the spontaneous restoration of generators’ synchronization are considered. The findings suggest that considering the fundamental design features of generating units provides informed technical decisions on equipping power plants (distributed generation (DG) facilities) and the adjacent network with efficient emergency control systems.

The article defines an isolated power system. Taking into account the peculiarities of regulation of modern power plants, the need for special management in case of emergency power shortages in an isolated power system is justified. The principle of special anti-accident automation to prevent unacceptable frequency reduction is stated. To increase the level of reliability of consumers power supply and prevent the risk of a frequency avalanche, it is proposed to use special automation that provides a preventive shutdown of the minimum required load volume, depending on the current mode of the power system and the available power of the disconnected power object.

Functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) is a commonly performed procedure for the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis. It is most commonly performed as an outpatient procedure. Complications occur, including injury to the orbits, brain, and bleeding. Intraoperative injury to the internal carotid artery is rare and feared by otolaryngologists and skull base surgeons. Controlling this bleed is difficult and could be fatal. We report a case of intraoperative bleed of an internal carotid artery aneurysm during endoscopic sinus surgery. This case demonstrates that multidisciplinary coordination and prompt management can lead to a favorable outcome.

Small-scale power generation based on renewable energy sources is gaining popularity in distribution grids, creating new challenges for power system control. At the same time, remote consumers with their own small-scale generation still have low reliability of power supply and poor power quality, due to the lack of proper technology for grid control when the main power supply is lost. Today, there is a global trend in the transition from a power supply with centralized control to a decentralized one, which has led to the Microgrid concept. A microgrid is an intelligent automated system that can reconfigure by itself, maintain the power balance, and distribute power flows. The main purpose of this paper is to study the method of control using reclosers in the Lahsh district of the Rasht grid in Tajikistan with distributed small generation. Based on modified reclosers, a method of decentralized synchronization and restoration of the grid normal operation after the loss of the main power source was proposed. In order to assess the stable operation of small hydropower plants under disturbances, the transients caused by proactive automatic islanding (PAI) and restoration of the interconnection between the microgrid and the main grid are shown. Rustab software, as one of the multifunctional software applications in the field of power systems transients study, was used for simulation purposes. Based on the simulation results, it can be concluded that under disturbances, the proposed method had a positive effect on the stability of small hydropower plants, which are owned and dispatched by the Rasht grid. Moreover, the proposed method sufficiently ensures the quality of the supplied power and improves the reliability of power supply in the Lahsh district of Tajikistan. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS: XDA20060303 National Natural Science Foundation of China, NSFC: 41761144079 Y848041 Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Funding: This research was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Pan-Third Pole Environment Study for a Green Silk Road (Grant No. XDA20060303), the International Cooperation Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41761144079), the Xinjiang Tianchi Hundred Talents Program (Grant No. Y848041), and the project of the Research Center of Ecology and Environment in Central Asia (Grant No. Y934031). Acknowledgments: The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Rasht electric networks OJSHC “Barqi Tojik” for providing the data for this research work.

Given the substantial penetration of social networks in citizens' everyday life activities, the success of a public safety system depends on the citizens' incentivization by the Emergency Control Center (ECC), and their effective effort contribution in the overall disaster management operation. In this paper, we introduce a formal method based on the principles of Contract Theory, to identify the optimal rewards to the citizens from the ECC's perspective, and the optimal invested effort from the citizens' side, referred to as contract pairs. The identification of these contract pairs (i.e., rewards and respective efforts) between the ECC and each citizen, depend on each citizen's social and communication characteristics that are used to define their specific type and profile, while they are properly reflected in the corresponding designed utility functions to be optimized. The problem under consideration is treated for both cases of complete (ideal) and incomplete (realistic) information availability, with respect to the level of knowledge of the ECC about the exact type of each citizen. The overall framework was evaluated via modeling and simulation, in terms of its efficiency and effectiveness, by studying multiple operation approaches and scenarios.

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading fast globally. Vietnam’s strict containment measures have significantly reduced the spread of the epidemic in the country. This was achieved through the use of emergency control measures in the epidemic areas and integration of resources from multiple sectors including health, mass media, transportation, education, public affairs, and defense. This paper reviews and shares specific measures for successful prevention and control of COVID-19 in Vietnam, which could provide useful learning for other countries.

The paper discusses the modeling of emergency control system of turbine frequency and power regulators using a hybrid real time simulator of electric power system. It presents the results of pilot simulation of frequency and power regulators ensuring dynamic and static stability in an electric power system.

This paper aims at reviewing and summarizing the vast variety of techniques to improve transient stability of power systems. A qualitative comparison of the techniques is presented and the future outlook is discussed. The techniques are categorized into conventional and renewable-based techniques. Conventional techniques are well established and have been employed in the past. Renewable techniques investigate how generators based on renewable energy sources (RES) can contribute to improving stability. Moreover, it is distinguished between techniques applying preventive and emergency controls. For preventive control, re-dispatch of generators and series compensation are extensively used in practice, whereas for emergency control, a great share of the techniques aim at voltage support during fault conditions. Regarding preventive control using RES-based generation, one approach which temporarily increases the voltage setpoint of the units in order to increase the synchronizing power, is reported. Regarding renewable energy source based emergency control, low voltage ride-through (LVRT) capability including voltage support is a well established method. Nevertheless, it is also highlighted that high voltage ride-through (HVRT) capability plays a critical role. The findings show that distributed generation must be included in existing control schemes for preventive control, and new improvement techniques taking full advantage of them need to be developed.

The integrated power system (IPS) is a foundation of all-electrical ships and vessels. The stability of IPS becomes a prerequisite of complicated cruise tasks. Thus, advanced stability analysis and regulation methods for IPS are of great importance. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for analyzing and enhancing transient stability of IPS, which is regarded as a cyber-physical system comprising of subsystems and connections. Criterions for determining input-output stability of such a system are firstly derived. Then, the stability analysis of IPS can be performed in the following two steps: 1) evaluating local input-output stability features of each subsystem independently through simulations. 2) Checking stability criterions with system topology and subsystem stability features. Moreover, synthetic approaches are proposed for stabilization and stability enhancement of IPS. To avoid system in-stability after major failures or topology changes, the optimal emergency control is performed to reconfigure subsystems. The other optimal regulation is used to strengthen system stability by adjusting subsystems’ control parameters during normal operation conditions. Case studies on a typical IPS validate the proposed stability analysis and enhancement approach.

In this paper, we review past (including very recent) research considerations in using reinforcement learning (RL) to solve electric power system decision and control problems. The RL considerations are reviewed in terms of specific electric power system problems, type of control and RL method used. We also provide observations about past considerations based on a comprehensive review of available publications. The review reveals the RL is considered as viable solutions to many decision and control problems across different time scales and electric power system states. Furthermore, we analyse the perspectives of RL approaches in light of the emergence of new-generation, communications, and instrumentation technologies currently in use, or available for future use, in power systems. The perspectives are also analysed in terms of recent breakthroughs in RL algorithms (Safe RL, Deep RL and path integral control for RL) and other, not previously considered, problems for RL considerations (most notably restorative, emergency controls together with so-called system integrity protection schemes, fusion with existing robust controls, and combining preventive and emergency control).

Power systems in the Murmansk region and the Republic of Karelia includes power plants with a total installed electrical capacity of more than 4.7 GW. Electricity is distributed using an 110-330 kV power grid. Emergency control complex in these power systems includes stability control automatics, asynchronous mode elimination automatics, frequency limiting automatics, voltage limiting automatics and limiting equipment overload automatics. More than 60 % of emergency control devices are made of electromechanical elements and, by virtue of their design features and metrological characteristics do not meet all modern regulatory requirements. We the present study analyzes the accident which resulted in separating considered power systems with the Unified Energy System of Russia. It reveals incorrect asynchronous mode elimination devices operation. The study identifies that the malfunction is due to the incorrect settings of trigger body. The study allowed to determine the aim of our PhD thesis, which is to improve emergency control system.

Uncertain factors such as the integration of renewable energy into the grid and load fluctuations have brought more risks to the safe dispatch of the grid. The random power flow is used to calculate the impact of distributed power sources and load fluctuations on the grid, and to quantify the probability distribution of line power, which can avoid the drawbacks of deterministic power flow that cannot fully reflect the line overload risk. Combining the line overload level with the traditional load shedding method can effectively prevent the system from cascading failures caused by the risk of line overload, improve the optimistic calculation results caused by the load shedding strategy in emergency situations that cannot consider source load fluctuations, and make the grid control more safe and reliable.

A real-time, rapid emergency control (EC) model is proposed to cope with sudden water pollution accidents in long-distance water transfer projects. The EC model outputs the method of EC based on pollutant properties. A generalized form of EC model is proposed and tested with a demonstrative project. The rapid prediction formulas of emergency control parameters (ECPs) are proposed under different states of water diversion. The closing times of check gates and the pollution range are calculated by the rapid prediction formulas of ECPs. A case study is examined under the scenario of a sucrose spill in a demonstrative project conducted in the Fangshui to Puyang channel of the Beijing–Shijiazhuang Emergency Water Supply Project in the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. The relative errors of peak concentration and arrival time of peak concentration are less than 20%. However, we could not use an actual toxic soluble pollutant to validate the EC model, so we performed the experiment with sucrose to test the EC model based on its concentration variation. The final result shows that the model is able to play a fundamental role in the decisions involved in the Emergency Environmental Decision Support System.

In this paper, a novel direct yaw control method based on driver operation intention for stability control of a distributed drive electric vehicle is proposed. It was discovered that the vehicle loses its stability easily under an emergency steering alignment (EA) problem. An emergent control algorithm is proposed to improve vehicle stability under such a condition. A driver operation intention recognition module is developed to identify the driving conditions. When the vehicle enters into an EA condition, the module can quickly identify it and transfer the control method from normal direct yaw control to emergency control. Two control algorithms are designed. The emergency control algorithm is applied to an EA condition while the adaptive control algorithm is applied to other conditions except the EA condition. Both simulation results and real vehicle results show that: The driver module can accurately identify driving conditions based on driver operation intention. When the vehicle enters into EA condition, the emergent control algorithm can intervene quickly, and it has proven to outperform normal direct yaw control for better stabilization of vehicles.

The configuration of and algorithm for the centralized automatic emergency control system of the unified power system of Eastern Russia are described briefly.

Wind and thermal power bundling is an effective means to solve the problem of power delivery from energy bases. In this paper, an emergency control method for wind-thermal bundled system is proposed. After the system is out of step, the stability of the system can be assessed quickly by using phase measurement unit (PMU) data and the power angle threshold can be determined. When the power angle threshold is reached, using power electronic equipment quickly to exchange the connection by disconnecting the primary side phase of the line at the synchronizer outlet. Then, the A, B, C three-phase series are connected to the C, a, B three-phase series, and the angle is reduced by 120°instantaneously. This preventing the system from falling out-of-step while maintaining the integrity of the system and the inertia level. The higher the wind power permeability, the better the performance of the proposed control method is. A case study is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The application of location-aware devices and location-based services enables big data to provide a convenient and efficient way to study the dynamics of urban population distribution. Based on the Baidu heat map data, the spatial-temporal population aggregation in the main urban areas of Chengdu City was explored in the context of the Spring Festival. The results suggested that population aggregation showed regular fluctuation within a day, consistent with the commuting activities. Also, population mobility showed difference before, during and after the festival; population density during the holiday was significantly lower than that on the other two working days, meanwhile the heat value on the working day before the festival was slightly higher than that after the festival. The conclusion showed that the Spring Festival affected the population distribution density. Chinese government’s emergent measures taken to suppress the nationwide spread of COVID_19 at early 2020 also had great influence on the low population aggregation during and after the Spring Festival, indicating the effectiveness of emergency control of human interactions. Better understanding of Spatial-temporal dynamics of population aggregation during the Spring Festival is of great value for optimizing the city expansion and structure planning.

The article addressed the issue of commissioning task that must take place before putting out-ofstep protection into operation. Most of the developers of digital out-of-step protection devices utilize control of impedance vector locus parameter during transient in a power system to detect its out-of-step operation, however checking the setting of such protection in the field conditions using existing means is often a challenging work. To facilitate the commissioning of such devices and provide means to automatize the process so as to rid of human factor the authors suggest means of simulating impedance vector locus with the desired parameters on the complex plane to check distance out-of-step protection. The means for checking current-oscillation based out-of-step protection is also considered. The results of a transient simulation representing instantaneous values of currents and voltages are saved in the international oscillography recording format COMTRADE, which makes it possible to carry out comprehensive verification of emergency control equipment using any kind of testing equipment that is able to generate the corresponding electrical signals stored in such format.

Considering the reality that harsh environment and poor communication conditions on remote islands bring difficulty to the operation and maintenance of island microgrids and result in low reliability of power supply, a microgrid monitoring system with multi-communications is proposed, and the island microgrid preventive-emergency control method based on multi-communications is studied. When the microgrid is operating normally, the load and distributed generation output are predicted based on the meteorological environment information monitored, and a microgrid energy scheduling strategy is formulated to implement preventive control measures in the microgrid. When the microgrid is in a state of emergency, the microgrid control center performs emergency load control measures based on the magnitude of the monitored disturbance and load power information. Finally, a microgrid is taken as an example for analysis to verify the validity of the proposed method.

A design framework is proposed in this paper for a new type of the Internet-of-Things technology. We specifically use the term Internet-of-breaths (IoB) which is a wireless sensor network (WSN) for enhancing fire-and-rescue (FRS) operations with real-time information of the air quality and human presence at the proximity of the fire-site. Though IoB can be useful in emergency scenario, IoB would be a useful tool in detecting human occupancy in a confined area. It can estimate approximate head-counts by inferring from the size of the room and the measured CO2 concentration level. Based on the previous experiences of SafetyNET with is a successful project by Loughborough University UK IoB extends the capacity of the SafetyNET sensor with capability of CO2 concentration measurement as an integrative approach. With this new sensing capability, new information such as human occupancy can be measured. By knowing whether and how many people exist in a certain location and its nearby locations, extra intelligence can be obtained in addition to toxic gas, fire severity, etc.; this will great help FRS operations. With the human occupancy information, the proposed research here is to focus on designing and building prototypes of applications that can benefit from knowing the human occupancy in real-time, through the IoB wireless sensing network. Integration of this new information on existing WSN data and systems is investigated. Possibilities of new applications based on human occupancy detection is discussed in the aspects of WSN technology.

The spreading of generation systems based on Renewable Energy Sources (RES) interfaced by power electronics into the power systems reduces the intrinsic inertia of the system and consequently the frequency stability. At the same time increasing the penetration of generating systems base on RES, the amount of connected conventional units will reduce during periods of high wind and/or solar power production. By removing conventional units the system also loses their contribution to the stability of the system. In this context, it is becoming increasingly important for the Indipendent System Operators (ISOs) to evaluate possible solutions to cope with low inertia power systems. In this study, referring to a modified 14-bus IEEE test system, conventional (no RES are involved), techniques applicable to thermoelectric power plants are evaluated.

The establishment of appropriate import quarantine systems is the best known method for preventing the unintentional introduction of invasive alien pests. However, quarantine systems are sometimes judged as non-tariff barriers against trade by the World Trade Organization. The construction of a common scientific theory for quarantine systems is thus extremely important to prevent invasion without causing international conflict. We explain several statistical theories that have been adopted in import plant quarantine systems in Japan. Quarantine systems include three major components: (1) import sampling inspection, (2) early detection procedures, and (3) emergency control. We first explain the principle of risk management that was commonly adopted in these components. Then, we explain the method for calculating the required sample size in the import sampling inspection. We then explain hierarchical sampling inspection for detecting alien pests inside Japan. We further explain the theory for declaring the eradication of invasive alien pests as an emergency control. Actual examples of quarantine actions against the invasion of plum pox virus disease and citrus huanglongbing are discussed.

Since phasor measurement units (PMU) were invented, there has been growing interest in developing methodologies for improving monitoring, protection and control of power systems in real time. In this study, the authors propose a new methodology, based on graph modelling, to identify coherent groups of generators in a real-time fashion. The coherent groups are identified with instantaneous values measured from the system through PMUs, and the methodology needs neither setting the number of desired groups nor defining a threshold value since it is based on coupling factors between generators. Moreover, it is proposed a new method for the online definition of areas for islanding when this action is required as the latest emergency control method. The methodology assigns the non-generation buses to the previously found generators coherent groups considering three criteria: electrical distance to the group of generators, topology, and operational constraints, which are verified by mean of an optimal power flow. The methodology is tested on the IEEE 39-bus and IEEE 118-bus test systems. Results show that the real-time identification of coherent groups and the definition of areas allow the development of islanding strategies with promising results.

This paper put forward the online safety control decision-making optimization based on operation risk of the grid. The method emphasized on combining with the present situation of the application of the three-defense-line by risk classification. Then new preventive control model based on risk is presented, and the effect to emergency control and corrective control is considered.

The line overload is discussed and the coordination and optimization model of preventive and emergency control is proposed in this paper. It combines with the sensitivity’s concept and reverse phase equivalent matching adjustment principle, takes into account the severity of the accident probability and consequences, and introduces the important factor of the corresponding accident; adjust automatically according to the influence degree of the accident to the power grid. Getting reasonable coordination optimization strategies to ensure the safety and economy of the system is effective and verified by this paper.

Background: Increasing the number of qualified people, including school students who can play a significant role in first-aid (FA) and basic life support (BLS) arena is a public health demand. Aim: To assess the awareness of Saudi secondary school students regarding FA and BLS. Methodology: 360 male secondary school children in Taif, Saudi Arabia were surveyed. Results: The mean students’ age was 17.4 ± 1.21 years. The mean participants’ FA knowledge score was 64.8% ± 11%. Generally, trained students reported both better FA knowledge and skills than untrained counter-parts; for 79.6% trained-compared to 53.7% untrained-students recorded such score > 70% [χ2 (df 1) = 11.60, p 70%) [62.3%

Microwave endometrial ablation (MEA) is effective for the emergency control of uterine hemorrhage. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been only a single report of life-threatening hemorrhage induced by endometrial carcinoma that was treated with MEA. The present report evaluates the efficacy of MEA as an emergency therapeutic option for the control of bleeding due to advanced endometrial carcinoma and minimally-invasive, early-stage endometrial carcinoma in 3 patients. MEA was able to effectively control massive uterine bleeding due to endometrial carcinoma in 2 patients with advanced disease and was curative in a patient with minimally-invasive endometrial carcinoma. Given its safety, simplicity and effectiveness, MEA may be utilized for the emergency treatment of uterine bleeding in advanced endometrial carcinoma, and may be used as a curative treatment in early-stage endometrial carcinoma.

This contribution to On the Front Line records a dialogue between two female Fire Brigades Union (FBU) representatives in the Essex Emergency Control Room, who led industrial action over the imposition of a shift system that stretched their work–life balance to breaking point and constrained their ability to work full-time. Their testimony reveals how male members were mobilised in the interests of predominantly female control staff. Kate and Lynne’s discussion illuminates the interaction of gender and class interests and identities in the union and in the lives of its women members. It provides insight into the efficacy of trade unions for women’s collective action.

Emergency control load-shedding is a key solution to prevent blackouts in the power system. This paper proposed a new model of emergency controls load shedding based on the fast identification of the unstable state of the power system. K-means clustering algorithm divided the instability mode into the clusters. The results of analysis of this cluster were used as the basis for classification control. Building load shedding strategies is consisted of the pre-designed rules based on AHP algorithm. When the recognition of the power system “instability” is detected, the signal of load shedding control is triggered immediately, therefore the decision time is greatly shortened comparing to the traditional methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method was tested on the IEEE 39-bus to overcome the limitations of the last traditional methods.

Consideration is given to the problems of active power system expansion planning. An analysis of content of these problems and the extent to which they are studied is presented. The expansion planning problem is represented by three successive stages: substantiation of a rational configuration of power supply system, complex optimization of the power supply system structure and parameters, considering different requirements, and research into the operating conditions. The research shows that the problems to be solved at the stage of the research on operating conditions of the future active power supply systems are the least investigated. The proposals are formulated to systematize the composition and content of such problems and provide information on the directions of their formalization. The examples of active electrical networks are presented. They demonstrate the concept of necessary measures. It is shown that the use of modern multifunctional switching devices in the distribution electrical networks, development of protection and emergency control systems, and the need to coordinate their operation changed the ideology of emergency control activities toward their automation by reconfiguring the electrical network and making it active in the sense of response to the equipment failures and emergencies.