Facial expression has been widely used in clinical practice to assess pain in newborns. However, the inherent visual attention required to make such vital inference is poorly understood. It is also unknown whether this inference occurs differently when comparing health professionals with other adults. To investigate these issues, we have recorded and monitored the pupil size signal of 102 subjects (44 experts, 29 parents, and 29 non-experts) while visually analyzing 20 frontal face images of 10 distinct newborns after a painful procedure and at painless rest. Our experimental results have showed that neonatal pain assessment is more cognitively demanding when analyzing the presence of pain rather than its absence. Moreover, our results disclose that a 2-second exposure to a facial expression is sufficient to make this assessment, regardless whether done by health professionals or non-health ones, suggesting that this highly specific visual task is not driven by clinical experience.

The indirect benefits of battery energy storage system (BESS) on the generation side participating in auxiliary service are hardly quantified in prior works. Nevertheless, the configuration of BESS could be affected by its indirect benefits. In this paper, we purpose a quantitative economic evaluation method of BESS considering the indirect benefits from the reduction in unit loss and the delay in investment. First, we complete further the cost model of BESS for frequency and peak regulation based on the whole life cycle theory. Second, we quantify the indirect benefits of BESS in thermal power plants based on the theory of rotor fatigue life loss and establish a benefits model that considers the unit loss reduction during frequency regulation and the delay in investment during peak regulation. Finally, we propose a set of indexes for economic evaluation of the thermal power plant with BESS. The simulation results show that the total benefits of BESS can be improved effectively by considering the indirect benefits from unit loss reduction and the delay in investment, proving the effectiveness of the proposed approach which can be meaningful for the future investment in BESS on the generation side.

Interrupted sampling repeater jamming (ISRJ) is a novel intra-pulse coherent jamming based on digital radio frequency memory (DRFM). By repeatedly sampling and retransmitting the radar transmitting signal fragments, a series of false targets can be formed after pulse compression (PC), posing a severe threat to modern radar systems. Inspired by the energy function method and histogram analysis in image processing, an adaptive time-frequency (TF) filtering method is proposed in this letter. The ISRJ-contaminated regions can be accurately determined in the TF image after histogram analysis and subsequent energy accumulation. Guided by the energy function, the proposed method can automatically adjust the intensity threshold in TF image histogram analysis and therefore reveals better robustness compared with other competing methods. Simulations have verified the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method against ISRJ under various circumstances.

A high speed and low power input/output buffer for time interleaving circuit is proposed in this letter. The buffer can be applied to high speed circuits operating at 20GS/s. This novel two-stage buffer is employed with bandwidth expansion and slew-rate enhanced techniques. An improved common-mode feedback circuit stabilizes the output common-mode voltage. This prototype buffer is fabricated in 45nm COMS process, and achieves 7.2bit ENOB at 10GHz input frequency with power consumption of 20.4mW, load of 0.3fF.

In this study, an optimisation model is developed for two-stage energy management of a residential building to minimise energy cost under monthly power-based tariffs for peak demand and time variable electricity prices. The expected peak demand is determined in the first stage, and then the energy management system minimises the energy cost in the second stage. The optimisation problem of the second stage is solved in a rolling time window for the real-time operation of the flexible energy sources in the building. The optimal charging and discharging of the battery energy system, the charging of the electric vehicle battery, the operation of the heating system and the optimal start times of washing machines and dishwashers are determined close to real-time. The proposed approach allows the user to determine the expected peak during the month ahead and try to keep the peak demand in daily operation below that value using a close to real-time energy management system. The performance of the two-stage approach for demand-side management of a residential building has been validated by a realistic case study.

Recently, power interruptions with high impact effects are increased by occurring natural disasters. Furthermore, the uncertain nature of data creates the considerable challenges for enhancing the resiliency of power distribution systems after occurring events. Regarding this, this paper presents a robust optimization approach for resiliency improvement in power distribution system. The robust approach uses the crew teams for switching action as restoration process, demand response programs and Mobile Generators (MGs) simultaneously for improving the resiliency with considering the uncertainty of electrical load and electrical price. The objective function is tri-level consists of minimum, maximum and minimum function. The first level is minimum function that is for minimizing cost of commitment of CHPs with considering location of MGs and reconfiguration structure in power distribution systems. The second level is maximum function that is for finding the worst-case scenario of the uncertainty variables. The third level is minimizing total operation cost in the condition with worst scenario of stochastic data by using demand response programs. The aforementioned algorithm is implemented on an IEEE 33-bus test distribution system with four different cases. Furthermore, several cases and sensitivity analysis are accomplished in order to show the efficiency of the proposed model.

A novel microwave limiter with non-reciprocal limiting threshold is proposed in this paper to protect the transceiver switch or the transmitter. The directivity of the directional coupler is utilized to make the power of the received signal input to the detection circuit larger than that of the transmitted signal, thereby the detection circuit provides different DC bias voltage to the limiter circuit and changes the threshold level of the limiter diode. The test results show that this limiter has a threshold level of 35 dBm for the transmitted signal and 17 dBm for the received signal, which has a non-reciprocal limiting threshold for high-power signals input in both directions.

Drug treatment in elderly patients is a challenge for healthcare systems. This challenge is exacerbated by age-related changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, multimorbidity, frailty and cognitive impairment. Moreover, old patients are commonly exposed to polypharmacy, leading to increased risk of drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, and higher costs for the healthcare systems. Thus, the complex task of prescribing medications to older polymedicated patients encourages the use of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). This paper evaluates the CDSS miniQ for identifying potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults with polypharmacy and to assesses the usability and acceptability of miniQ in health care professionals, patients, and caregivers. It describes how useful is CDSS miniQ system for Primary Care physicians, as well as for patients and their caregivers to know their medications. The discussion emphasizes how this system is useful to improve the prescribing process and reduce errors.

Integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in power systems exacerbates the existing information problems between power utilities and regulators. DER policies oblivious to the trilemma of information asymmetry between power utilities, DER aggregators, and regulators result in distorted price signals to DER investors, and socially inefficient DER roll-out. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a game-theoretic approach for modeling information asymmetry in distribution network information and consumer data between the DER aggregators and the power utilities. The proposed framework is based on Single Leader Single Follower (SLSF) games, reformulated as Mathematical Programs with Equilibrium Constraints (MPECs), and solved using the Scholtes’s relaxation technique. Our results, based on the 7-bus Manhattan power network, show that unless the DER aggregators have complete information about the distribution network characteristics, the welfare along with the realized installed capacity of DERs in the system decreases. Moreover, progressively decreasing DER investment costs alleviate the effects of information asymmetry, suggesting that early adopters face disproportionately high welfare losses attributed to incomplete information between the DER stakeholders. Hence, policy interventions to alleviate the rampant information problems are imperative to ensure an optimal DER roll-out.

Deep learning-based classification algorithms have been used for automatic modulation recognition (AMR). However, most methods only focus on end-to-end mapping and neglect the classic key features. In this paper, signals are enforced with key classification features to propose a novel deep learning model for AMR by learning the shared latent space of the aligned signals and key features (LLAF); this is done to increase the generalizability of the model and to ensure the physical plausibility of the results. To obtain adequate signal representations, an encoder-decoder architecture is proposed to learn the shared latent space, and the architecture is trained to approximate prior label distributions for precise signal classification. Simulation results verify the high recognition accuracy of the proposed LLAF model under different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs).

As electric vehicles(EVs) begin to participate in the peak regulating auxiliary service market, it has become a major problem that how can price aggregators maximize the peak shaving capacity provided by EVs and maximize their own interests. This paper proposes a bargaining game pricing method based on the psychology cost of EVs and the risk assessment of aggregators. First of all, according to the impact of users’ participation in peak shaving on the battery life of EVs, the impact of participation in peak shaving on users’ original travel plans and time, and the impact of aggregator pricing on users’ psychology, the comprehensive psychology cost of EV users is obtained. Then, based on the user’s psychology cost and the law of gravitation, the evaluation scheme for the peak shaving capacity of EVs is obtained. On the basis of conditional value at risk(CVaR), the mixed CVaR is obtained by considering the behavior of users who may chase risks. Based on the mixed CVaR, the risk assessment of aggregators’ participation in the peak regulating auxiliary service market is carried out. According to the above information, the aggregators and the EV teams are engaged in a bargaining game based on the peak shaving pricing problem, which is divided into complete information game and incomplete information game. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by an example analysis.

We demonstrate a high-speed 8.5 μm quantum cascade laser with room temperature continuous wave operation. The maximum output power of 141 mW is obtained at 20 ℃. The parasitic capacitance of the device is decreased from 36.6 pF to 7.1 pF by monolithic integrating a π-shape metal contact electrode. This results in an increase in the -3 dB RF modulation bandwidth from 870 MHz to 4.5 GHz compared with the conventional electrode configuration.

Increasing Internet of Things (IoT) deployments present a growing surface over which villainous actors can carry out attacks. This disturbing revelation is amplified by the fact that a majority of IoT devices use weak or no encryption at all. Specific Emitter Identification (SEI) is an approach intended to address this IoT security weakness. This work provides the first Deep Learning (DL) driven SEI approach that upsamples the signals after collection to improve performance while simultaneously reducing the hardware requirements of the IoT devices that collect them. DL-driven upsampling results in superior SEI performance versus two traditional upsampling approaches and a convolutional neural network only approach.

Identifying cohesive subgraphs is an important topic in graph theory and complex network analysis. The quasi-clique, as a generalization of clique, can be used to identify functional and structural properties of various networks. In this paper, we study the maximum weighted quasi-clique problem, and propose a local search algorithm for solving the problem. In the algorithm, an iterated local search method is used as the search framework. To find the quasi-clique with the maximum total weights, hybrid vertex selection strategies are proposed and incorporated into our algorithm. The hybrid strategies utilize a probability-based mechanism for choosing sub-strategies in each round of the local search. We conduct experiments on synthetic networks and real-world networks to show the effectiveness of our algorithm. The results indicate that hybrid strategies perform better than existing methods, and thus our algorithm has a good ability to tackle various networks.

A novel parameter estimation method is proposed for the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), which is implemented by an enhanced self-learning particle swarm optimization algorithm with Levy flight (SLPSO), and the problem of lower parameter estimation precision of standard PSO is obviated. This method injects currents of different intensities into the d-axis in a time-sharing manner to solve the problem of equation under-ranking, and the mathematical model for full-rank parameter estimation is developed. The speed term of PSO is simplified to expedite the convergence of PSO, and a strategy with Chaotic decline for the inertia weight of PSO is adopted to strengthen its ability to jump out of the local optimum. Moreover, the self-learning dense fleeing strategy (SLDF) is proposed where particles perform diffusion learning based on population density information and Levy flight, the evolutionary unitary problem and human intervention in the evolutionary process is averted. Furthermore, the memory tempering annealing algorithm (MTA) and greedy algorithm (GA) is integrated into the algorithm, MTA can facilitate the exploration of potentially better regions, and GA for local optimization enhances the convergence speed and accuracy in late stage of the algorithm. Comparing the proposed method with several existing PSO algorithms through simulation and experiments, the experimental data show that the proposed method can effectively track variable parameters under different working conditions and has better robustness.

The assembly process of flareless pipe joints is very important for the sealing performance of hydraulic pipeline system. Based on the theory of contact mechanics, a theoretical model of the assembly process of pipe joints is established to simulate the extrusion molding process of flareless pipe joints. It is found that tightening torque is an important factor affecting the sealing performance of pipe joints. By comparing the changes of the contact stress between the sleeve and the pipe joint under different tightening tortures, combined with the mechanical transfer and deformation results of the contact surface, the results show that the fitting situation of the sleeve and the pipe is good when the expansion pressure is 180Mpa, and the sealing performance of the pipe joint is good when the tightening tortures are between 15N·m and 18N·m.

In order to locate the mobile robots in three-dimensional indoor environment, mostly global navigation satellite system-denied space, a monocular visual space positioning algorithm based on deep neural network is proposed. First, we employ the lightweight YOLOv5 algorithm for target detection, and the LibTorch deep learning framework is used for model deployment to improve the inference speed. Moreover, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network with four inputs and two outputs is constructed, which regress the coordinates of the robot in the field coordinate system to complete the target localization, and this method is compared with the mathematical model solving algorithm to reflect the accuracy and superiority of positioning algorithm based on deep neural network. The proposed positioning and tracking system has been successfully applied to ICRA robot competition, and results show that the positioning error estimated by our method is within 10cm whilst having good real-time performance.

Generally, wind speed alters continuously during a day and lead to fluctuating output power of a wind farm. Connecting such a wind farm to the transmission line of grid causes a malfunction in the performance of the backup zone of the distance relays due to the random nature of generation and the number of connected wind turbines (wind farm penetration). In this study, a new adaptive setting groups-based method has been proposed to set the second zone of the distance relay in the grid with a wind farm equipped with a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). In this method, we also taken into account the uncertainty of wind fluctuations and the availability of wind turbines. A Markov model is developed to implement these features. To determine the impedance setting of each of the set groups of the second zone in the distance relays of the remote bus, the obtained impedances are clustered in four clusters by using the combination of K-means and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms. Finally, details of the analysis results of this issue have been compared with other methods available in the literature. The validity and accuracy of the proposed approach also have been assayed and confirmed.