With the more environmentally friendly smart grid initiatives during the past few years, intelligent operation and optimisation of the electricity distribution system have received an increasing attention in power system research worldwide. Power flow from the distribution substation to the customer can be optimised at Volt-Ampere-Reactive (VAR) level by reducing the reactive power. Distributed Generation (DG) and Renewable Energy Sources (RES) represent both the broadest potentials and the broadest challenges for intelligent distribution systems and smart grid control. In general, the flexibility envisaged by integrating RES during smart grid transformation is often surrounded by nonlinearities such as wave-form deformations caused by harmonic currents or voltages, which impliedly increase control system complexity. Therefore, conventional controllers presently implemented need to be re-engineered in order to solve power quality (PQ) problems therein. This work aims to improve the controllability of Distribution Static Compensators (DSTATCOMs) through the development of improved control systems using evolu- tionary computation enabled design automation and optimisation. The resultant Volt-VAR Control (VVC) optimises PQ in the presence of nonlinearities and uncertainties. It also aims at increasing overall system’s sensitivity to unconsidered parameters in the design stage like measurement noise, unmodelled dynamics and disturbances. This is otherwise known as the robustness of the system offering it with valuable potential for future smart grids control, which are anticipated to present more nonlinearities due to virtual power plant (VPP) configuration. According to European Project FENIX, a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) aggregates the capacity of many diverse Distributed Energy Resources (DER), it creates a single operating profile from a composite of the parameters characterizing each DER and can incorporate the impact of the network on aggregate DER output. To particularly solve PQ problems, two objectives are realised in this thesis. First, a non-deterministic evolutionary algorithm (EA) is adopted to generate optimum fuzzy logic controllers for DSTATCOMs. This design methodology extends the traditional computer-aided-design (CAD) to computer-automated-design (CAutoD), which provides a unified solution to diverse PQ problems automatically and efficiently. While realizing this objective, the prediction ability of the derivative term in a proportional and derivative (PD) controller is improved by placing a rerouted derivative filter in the feedback path to tame ensuing oscillations. This method is then replicated in a fuzzy PD scheme and is automated through the capability of a “generational” tuning using evolutionary algorithm. Fuzzy logic controllers (FLCs) are rule-based systems which are designed around a fuzzy rule base (RB) related through an inference engine by means of fuzzy implication and compositional procedures. RBs are normally formulated in linguistic terms, in the form of if ... then rules which can be driven through various techniques. Fundamentally, the correct choice of the membership functions of the linguistic set defines the performance of an FLC. In this context, a three rule-base fuzzy mapping using Macvicar-Whelan matrix has been incorporated in this scheme to reduce the computational cost, and to avoid firing of redundant rules. The EA-Fuzzy strategy is proven to overcome the limitation of conventional optimisation which may be trapped in local minima, as the optimisation problem is often multi-modal. The second objective of the thesis is the development of a novel advanced model-free predictive control (MFPC) system for DSTATCOMs through a deterministic non-gradient algorithm. The new method uses its “look-ahead” feature to predict and propose solutions to anticipated power quality problems before they occur. A describing function augmented DSTATCOM regime is so arranged in a closed-loop fashion to locate limit cycles for settling the systems nonlinearities in a model-free zone. Predictive control is performed upon the online generated input-output data-set through the power of a non-gradient simplex algorithm. The strategy is to boycott the usage of a system model which is often based on gradient information and may thus be trapped in a local optimum or hindered by noisy data. As a model-free technique, the resultant system offers the advantage of reduction in system modelling or identification, which is often inaccurate, and also in computational load, since it operates directly on raw data from a direct online procession while at the same time dealing with a partially known system normally encountered in a practical industrial problem. Steady-state and dynamic simulations of both control and simulation models in Matlab/Simulink environment demonstrate the superiority of the new model-free approach over the traditional trial-and-error based methods. The method has been varified to offer faster response speed and shorter settling time at zero overshoot when compared to existing methods. A SimPowerSystems software simulation model is also developed to check experimental validity of the designs. Where specific PQ problems such as harmonics distortion, voltage swells, voltage sags and flicker are solved. A noticeable record level of THD reduction to 0.04% and 0.05% has respectively been achieved. It is therefore safe to recommend to the industry the implementation of this model-free predictive control scheme at the distribution level. As the distribution system metamorphoses into decen- tralised smart grid featuring connectivity of virtual power plants mostly through power electronic converters, e.g., DSTATCOM, it stands to benefit from the full Volt-VAR automated controllability of the MFPCs low control rate. Based on CAutoD, the practical implementation of this technique is made possible through digital prototyping within the real-time workshop to automatically generate C or C++ codes from Simulink, which executes continuous and discrete time models directly on a vast range of computer applications. Its overall wired closed-loop structure with the DSTATCOM would offer reliable and competitive advantages over its PID and SVC (CAD-based) counterparts currently being implemented through physical prototyping, in terms of; quick product-to-market pace, reduced hardwire size, small footprint, maintenance free as it is model-free (and automated), where pickling the controller timers and model contingencies are unnecessary as would be with the conventional controllers. More importantly, the scheme performs the aforementioned control functions robustly at a high speed in the range of 0.005 → 0.01 seconds. High enough to capture and deal with any ensuing PQ problem emanating from changes in customer’s load and system disturbances in an environmentally friendly, but less grid-friendly renewable generators.

Since the change in the political dispensation in South Africa in 1994, South Africans are under increasing pressure to accept the new, changing order as a given. The institution where the research was carried out, the South African Secret Service (SASS), has also not escaped these changes and there have been various developments which indicate that some employees are not adjusting to these changes. The purpose of this research has been to determine to what extent a relationship exists between the presence or absence of certain psychological forces in individuals and the coping strategies which they use. The psychological forces were researched and analysed from the fortigenic paradigm, which is aimed at focusing on the origin of certain forces/strengths within man that are of cardinal importance for effective functioning. In the literature study the main focus was on aspects such as coping with change, after which the coping p cess and the various coping types and strategies were addressed. An important element of the literature study consisted of the profiles of copers and non-copers, which focused on the cognitive, emotional and conative fields/areas. Three different psychological approaches, namely pathogenesis, salutogenesis and fortigenesis were addressed, with emphasis on the latter. The fortigenic approach was analysed from the perspective of a number of forces, as identified by Strümpfer. A combination of a quantitative survey design and a qualitative research design (the phenomenological method) was used, with a sample population of 50 persons from the research environment within the SASS. In the research five qualitative measuring instruments (the Locus of Control Questionnaire of Scheepers, the Life Orientation Questionnaire of Antonovsky, the Personal Views Survey of Kobasa, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire of Sherer & Maddux and the Self-Control Scale of Rosenbaum) and a qualitative instrument (the phenomenological interview) were used to determine the presence or absence of the fortigenic forces in the respondents. The measuring instruments were applied to the whole population, after which a stanine scale was used to identify persons with low and high scores according to the fortigenic construct. An interview based on the phenomenological approach was done with five persons with low and five with high scores. According to the results of the empirical study a statistically significant difference exists between the stanine scores of the five respondents with the highest scores and the five with the lowest scores and it is possible to subject these respondents to the qualitative measuring instrument. According to the qualitative measuring instrument (interview) there is a moderate to strong relationship between the strength of the employees' fortigenic forces and their ability to cope with organisational change. Three of the five employees with low stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a non-coper, while two of the respondents showed a moderate resemblance. All five the respondents who achieved high stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a coper. Recommendations are made for future study. / Thesis (MCom)--PU for CHE, 1999.

For students with physical and health disabilities, the development of self-advocacy skills is critical to their future success. Characteristics that may inhibit the development of self-advocacy skills in this population include reliance on others for assistance across multiple areas requiring physical abilities, deficits in communication skills, and the development of learned helplessness. Instruction in self-advocacy is needed for this population of students in order to maximize future success and decrease learned helplessness (Angell, Stoner, and Fulk, 2010; Macdonald & Block, 2005; Roberts, 2007). For this study, the researcher provided instruction to four elementary age students with physical disabilities who exhibited characteristics of learned helplessness, including ineffective initiation of requests. Students used speech, sign, or gestures as their primary form of communication, and were able to use this form of communication as a reliable means of response during typical classroom activities, including social interactions and when responding to questions. When they needed to initiate a request for required materials during classroom activities, they made no response, ineffectively gestured, or made unrelated comments when prompted to complete an activity. Students who initiated requests ≤ 50% of presented opportunities were eligible to participate in this study. The intervention consisted of combined use of environmental arrangement and the system of least prompts in a multiprobe multiple baseline across participants design. Environmental arrangement strategies included missing materials or materials that were out of reach. The system of least prompts involved the following levels of prompting: (a) independent, (b) verbal – restatement of direction, (c) indirect verbal, and (d) verbal/model. Analysis of the data indicated that three of the four students increased their effective initiation of requests during intervention, and generalized this skill to new materials and novel settings. The fourth student exhibited noncompliant behaviors that interfered with his ability to reach criteria during intervention. These results support the effectiveness of this intervention in decreasing learned helplessness and increasing the self-advocacy skill of initiating requests with students with physical disabilities who have no interfering behaviors.

Av tradition har frågan om en person varit vårdslös eller inte avgjorts genom att personens bet­eende jämförts med en Bonus Pater Familias (BPF) d.v.s. en fiktiv ”normalt aktsam per­son” på det aktuella området. Modellen betraktas numera i princip som utmönstrad och culpa­bedömningen anses istället ta sin utgångpunkt i akt­samhets­­­normer uttryckta i lag, före­skrifter, praxis och sedvana (där BPF används som tankemodell). Om inte ovanstående ger svar görs en fri bedömning som utgår från The Learned Hand Formula (LHF) där hänsyn tas till risken för skada, den eventuella skadans storlek och skade­vållarens möjligheter till att före­­komma skadan. I den svenska modellen (ULHF) ingår även ett rekvisit som beaktar skade­­­vållarens insikt. Frågorna som aktualiseras är därmed hur BPF och ULHF används i sven­sk rätt och vilken betydelse det får beroende på vilken av modellerna som används samt hur den svenska användningen av LHF förhåller sig till den i några grannländer. Det är också av intresse att undersöka res­pektive modells ändamå­lsenlighet utifrån skadeståndsrättens syften och att se om det finns något samband mellan normskyddsläran och det subjektiva kriteriet i ULHF. I framställningen har konstaterats att det idag endast är sedvanemodellen av BPF som används i Sverige. Det har också fastslagits att både BPF och ULHF, trots yttre olikheter, är normativa och grundas på vad som anses utgöra en läm­plig riskfördelning i samhället varför det i princip inte blir någon skill­nad beroende på vilken av modellerna som nyttjas. Användningen av ULHF och BPF ser inte ut att skilja sig beroende på om det rör sig om ett inom- eller utom­oblig­atoriskt för­hållande med mer än att frågan om oaktsamhet i första hand avgörs genom en prövning utifrån vad parterna avtalat i det förstnämnda. För enskilda skade­vållare råder dock ett förut­säg­­barhets­problem avseende vilken av BPF eller ULHF som domstolarna kan komma att göra bedömningen efter, vilket dock inte har någon betydelse eftersom resultatet i princip blir dets­amma. Denna likhet innebär att ingen av mod­ellerna kan sägas uppfylla skade­­­stånds­­rättens huvud­syfte, som konstaterats vara riskför­delning och kostnads­placering, bättre än den andre. Trots oförutsäg­barheten får ord­ningen med två grunder för oaktsamhet anses vara läm­plig eftersom bl.a. alternativet hade varit att återgå till den intetsägande person­lighetsmodellen av BPF. Sambandet mellan det subjektiva rekvisitet och norm­skyddsläran är att båda grundas på intresseavvägningar om vad som utgör en lämplig risk­fördelning i samhället. En jäm­förelse avseende användningen av LHF i tysk, dansk och norsk rätt visar att den svenska modellen sticker ut genom det uttryckliga hänsynstagandet till det subjektiva kri­teriet. Em­ellertid framkommer att de praktiska skillnaderna dock inte är så stora länd­erna emellan efter­som användningen av modellen grundas på normativa över­väganden i samtliga länder. Således kan ingen av de jämförda länderna sägas använda ursprungsmodellen av LHF.

Since the change in the political dispensation in South Africa in 1994, South Africans are under increasing pressure to accept the new, changing order as a given. The institution where the research was carried out, the South African Secret Service (SASS), has also not escaped these changes and there have been various developments which indicate that some employees are not adjusting to these changes. The purpose of this research has been to determine to what extent a relationship exists between the presence or absence of certain psychological forces in individuals and the coping strategies which they use. The psychological forces were researched and analysed from the fortigenic paradigm, which is aimed at focusing on the origin of certain forces/strengths within man that are of cardinal importance for effective functioning. In the literature study the main focus was on aspects such as coping with change, after which the coping p cess and the various coping types and strategies were addressed. An important element of the literature study consisted of the profiles of copers and non-copers, which focused on the cognitive, emotional and conative fields/areas. Three different psychological approaches, namely pathogenesis, salutogenesis and fortigenesis were addressed, with emphasis on the latter. The fortigenic approach was analysed from the perspective of a number of forces, as identified by Strümpfer. A combination of a quantitative survey design and a qualitative research design (the phenomenological method) was used, with a sample population of 50 persons from the research environment within the SASS. In the research five qualitative measuring instruments (the Locus of Control Questionnaire of Scheepers, the Life Orientation Questionnaire of Antonovsky, the Personal Views Survey of Kobasa, the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire of Sherer & Maddux and the Self-Control Scale of Rosenbaum) and a qualitative instrument (the phenomenological interview) were used to determine the presence or absence of the fortigenic forces in the respondents. The measuring instruments were applied to the whole population, after which a stanine scale was used to identify persons with low and high scores according to the fortigenic construct. An interview based on the phenomenological approach was done with five persons with low and five with high scores. According to the results of the empirical study a statistically significant difference exists between the stanine scores of the five respondents with the highest scores and the five with the lowest scores and it is possible to subject these respondents to the qualitative measuring instrument. According to the qualitative measuring instrument (interview) there is a moderate to strong relationship between the strength of the employees' fortigenic forces and their ability to cope with organisational change. Three of the five employees with low stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a non-coper, while two of the respondents showed a moderate resemblance. All five the respondents who achieved high stanine scores showed a strong resemblance to the profile of a coper. Recommendations are made for future study. / Thesis (MCom)--PU for CHE, 1999.

This thesis analyzes the supervisory control of the PUMA 700 series robot through a remote computer. Supervisory communication carries the control through MARK II controller, common controller for the PUMA robots, to a standard PC, enabling the development of purpose specific control programming without the knowledge of the VAL (Variable Assembly Language), robot-programming language. Using the supervisory communication feature of PUMA, new control software has been developed in which both VAL commands and interactive control commands can be executed simultaneously. The supervisory communication with the control software enables exploitation of third party applications and additional operating system features. The supervisory communication uses the Digital Data Communications Message Protocol (DDCMP). The frame structure of data messages, which is specific to PUMA robots, is fitted into this protocol. The messages embedded into DCMP are actually logical units, having different abilities and features. Data messages are formed with the interactive control software according to execution requests of the user. This thesis explains the implementation of the communication without using the CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Checking) on the remote computer side and the data messages formed with the interactive control software, which also enables the use of sensory inputs (camera, infrared, sound, color information) to be used for the robot motion control.

In this study, it is aimed to derive strategies and develop a Balanced Scorecard in General Directorate of Environmental Impact Assessment and Planning in Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Firstly, the objectives of the General Directorate defined in the law are reassessed and strategies to realize the objectives are derived by making use of feedback received by conducting surveys to 4 main stakeholder groups which are the staff of the General Directorate, Provincial Directorates, companies preparing EIA reports, other public institutions, and interviews with managers. Following the determination of strategies, performance measures for each strategy are specified, replaced into internal business perspective, stakeholder perspective and learning and growth perspective in the Balanced Scorecard and and finally deployed to head of departments and branch offices.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of organoclay type and concentration on the nanocomposites synthesized by &ldquo / In-Situ Polymerization&rdquo / and &ldquo / Prepolymerization&rdquo / methods. In-Situ Polymerization Method was in fact a new route which consisted of dispersing the monomers / propylene glycol, maleic anhydride and o-phthalic anhydride into the galleries of montmorillonite followed by subsequent polymerization. The Prepolymerization Method involved the addition of montmorillonite to the previously synthesized unsaturated polyester. As the first step, all the compositions were prepared by Cloisite 30B, and then for comparison of clay type, nanocomposites containing 3 wt.% of Cloisite 15A and Cloisite 25A were also synthesized. The efficiency of the two methods were compared with regards to their structural, thermal and mechanical properties. According to the results of XRD analysis, in both methods, maximum intercalation was observed when Cloisite 30B was used. An exfoliated structure was obtained in the Prepolymerization Method at 3 wt. % Cloisite 30B content. In all clay types, the increase in the d-spacings of the organoclays was higher when the Prepolymerization Method was applied. With Cloisite 30B, maximum improvement in the impact strength was obtained at 3 wt. % organoclay loading and the In-Situ Method yielded better results leading to a 77% increase in the impact strength at this organoclay loading. Among the organoclay types, Cloisite 15A was found to give rise to maximum increase in the impact strength. With the Prepolymerization Method higher improvement in flexural strength and flexural modulus was obtained owing to the lower styrene content in the crosslinking medium. The elongation at break values followed a decreasing trend with increasing clay content but did not show any significant difference when the clay types were compared.

ABSTRACT CHARACTERIZATION OF KIZILCAHAMAM GEOTHERMAL FIELD BY TRACER TESTING Tevfik Kaya M.S, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serhat Akin Co-Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Mahmut Parlaktuna September 2005, 107 Pages Kizilcahamam Geothermal Field which is 70 km far from Ankara, has been utilized for Geothermal District Heating System, 25 MWt, 2500 residences capacity, greenhouses heating, thermal facilities since 1994. The average production rate is 350m3/h during the heating season , 150m3/h during the summer season for hot water and yearly average reinjection rate is 114m3/h from the field. The long term projections has been studied concerning on expected pressure decline by matching 10 years field history data which contain dynamic level and temperature data. The pressure decline is 140 kPa in the field between 1999 and 2005 with the existing reinjection rate, if the existing rates do not change, the additional pressure decline which is 120 kPa will be occurred up to 2011. In order to get more information from the field, the fluorescein as tracer has been injected in to the MTA-1, and the samples were collected from the MTA-2, Fethi Bey, IHL-1 and IHL-3 for 3 months. The fluorescein concentration has been detected by using fluorimeter, and tracer concentration time plots were analyzed. The fluoreiscein was detected in short breakthrough time in MTA-2 and Fethi Bey which are close to reinjection well, breakthrough time is longer in IHL-1 and IHL-3. The interpretation of tracer test shows that there is communication between all wells. Tracer concentration time plots were compared with different mathematical models, the best match was obtained with multi-fractured model. These results show that Kizilcahamam field is not homogeneous field. It is expected that increasing the reinjection rate will decrease the pressure decline in the field.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-40).