O requisito de continuidade de fornecimento de energia elétrica tem sido crescente na medida em que a sociedade de modo geral e os processos industriais em particular apresentam forte dependência desse insumo que assegura a todos satisfação e conforto. O consumidor é um agente econômico e ele faz parte do sistema elétrico (carga). No âmbito da análise de sistemas de potência são abordados temas, desde modelos de representação da rede e da carga até conceitos de custo da continuidade e técnicas de otimização da aplicação de investimentos para priorizar aqueles que trazem maior benefício tanto para o consumidor como para o controlador da concessão. No entanto, as técnicas usuais e convencionais de Planejamento podem conduzir a soluções pouco econômicas, porquanto consideram apenas a otimização dos investimentos em obras, ou seja, reforços da rede para atender a condição normal e em emergência (critério n-1), respeitando, naturalmente, critérios técnicos (limites de tensão, sobrecargas etc). Não raro estas instalações recomendadas pela técnica convencional serem utilizadas apenas em algumas contingências, algumas com baixa probabilidade de ocorrência. Esta pesquisa desenvolve como alternativa às soluções convencionais, um modelo que considera a otimização dos investimentos, lançando mão de recursos operativos como: corte de carga, despacho ou modificações topológicas por meio de chaveamentos, quando operando em contingência. O modelo proposto prevê que a representação da geração inclua funções que relacionam a intensidade de despacho com seus custos, bem como funções que associam custo à intensidade e duração do corte de carga a cada barra do sistema. O modelo também permite a reconfiguração da rede quando operando em contingências, por meio de alterações do estado das chaves, mudando a topologia. As funções de custo do corte de carga também são modeladas neste trabalho, considerando métodos analíticos e agregados para o cálculo do prejuízo sócio-econômico resultante da interrupção. A busca da solução ótima, que pode envolver corte de carga, despachos de geração e reconfiguração da rede, substituindo reforços realizados por obra, é obtida por um algoritmo genético evolutivo. Os procedimentos do modelo proposto representam um avanço do processo de planejamento convencional, porquanto introduz a componente continuidade de serviço de forma quantitativa, caracterizando o atendimento dos requisitos de sensibilidade das cargas de cada barra do sistema, lançando mão de recursos operativos, através de possíveis despachos e alterações topológicas. Um estudo de caso ilustra a aplicação do modelo proposto. / The need for reliable electrical energy supply continuity, the industrial demand and its dependence has been growing worldwide. Besides, it also concerns society and assures satisfaction and comfort of consumers. The consumer is the economic agent since he takes part in the system. On analyzing an electrical system, models are needed to represent the network and the load and optimization frameworks in order to make better investments and prioritize those which can benefit the consumer and the concession holder. The usual Planning Models commonly provide us with uneconomical solutions since the optimization is carried out through active investments or network reinforcements to attend the normal and the emergency condition (n-1 criteria), based on technical criteria, like voltage and overload . Frequently, these techniques recommended by the conventional analysis can be applied only in some contingencies, some of them with a small probability of occurrence.. This research develops an alternative to the conventional solutions, considering the investment optimization and using operative resources, such as: load shedding, generation rescheduling or network change operation (circuit breaker, e.g.) when operating in contingency. In this model, the generation is represented by a function that relates the intensity rescheduling and its costs and functions that relates load shedding cost, the intensity and duration of curtailment on each system bus. The model sets a network contingency reconfiguration, changing the circuit break situation (open or closed) and altering the topology. The calculation of cost of load discontinuity or social cost functions (damage cost) is shown in this thesis, considering analytical and aggregating methods. The search for an optimized solution can involve load shedding, generation rescheduling and topology changes as substitutes for network reinforcements, and may be obtained by genetic- evolutive algorithm. The procedures of the proposed model represent an advancement over the conventional Planning Process as it introduces, quantitatively, the consumer service continuity, meeting the sensibility criteria of the load characterization of each consumer class connected to the system bus, through operative resources, rescheduling, load shedding and topology changes. A case study illustrates the application of the proposed model.

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Notre recherche a consisté a nous faire une opinion raisonnée sur les interventions des Institutions de Bretton-Woods en République Démocratique de Congo, en nous appuyant sur une analyse de long terme de l’endettement extérieur du pays, et par conséquent à la mise en œuvre des programmes des stabilisations dans les années 70 et d’ajustement structurel depuis les années 80. Cette analyse nous a permis de mettre en lumière les contraintes économiques et sociales, internes et extérieures, auxquelles le pays a dû faire face. Loin de soulager cette économie rentière, les thérapies de choc préconisées par ces Institutions ont provoqué des coûts ou effets secondaires négatifs, délibérément cherché ou non sur d’autres variables (revenu global, niveau des prix, inflation/hyperinflation…). D’autre part, elles ont eu un coût social élevé, et ont contribuées lourdement à une détérioration de la répartition des revenus entre les diverses couches sociales du pays. L’échec des programmes d’ajustement structurel étant aujourd’hui reconnu, il était devenu donc impératif d’imaginer d’autres types d’approches moins superficielles, qui puissent intégrer non-seulement l’équilibre des variables macro et/ou micro-économiques, mais aussi méso-économique ; et donc l’accent doit être désormais mis sur l’amont (discussions des politiques) et sur l’aval (mis au point des projets ou programmes). C’est ainsi que furent mis en place, depuis le milieu des années 90, les mesures d’allègement ou d’annulation de la dette extérieure. L’austérité préconisée aujourd’hui, face à la crise de la dette dans la zone euro, semble ne pas tenir compte des conséquences que les politiques d’inspiration monétariste ont entraînées partout où elles ont été mises en œuvre, et particulièrement en Afrique. Ainsi, nous-nous demandons si le Libéraux ont-ils retenu les leçons des échecs des programmes d’ajustement structurel (PAS) dans les pays ajustés. Pour ce faire, nous-nous sommes permis de proposer quelques perspectives ou voies de sortie afin d’éviter de retomber dans le cycle de la dette que la RD Congo a connut. / Our research was to give us a reasoned opinion on the actions of the Bretton-Woods in DR Congo, relying on an analysis of long term external debt of the country, and therefore the implementation of programs stabilization in the 70s and structural adjustment since the 80s. This analysis allowed us to highlight the economic and social constraints, internal and external, that the country faced. Far from alleviating the rentier economy, shock therapies advocated by these institutions have caused costs or negative side effects, deliberately sought or not other variables (total income, inflation/hyperinflation…). On the other hand, they had a high social cost, and contributed heavily to the deterioration of income distribution among different social strata of the country. The failure of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) is regnized today, it has become imperative to imagine other types of less superficial approaches that can integrate not only the balance of macro variables and/or micro-economic, but also meso, and therefore the emphasis should now be placed on the upstream (policy discussion) and downstream (developed projects or programs). Thus were established since the mid 90s, the relief measures or cancellation of the external debt. The austerity advocated today, faced with the debt crisis in the euro area seems to ignore the impact that monetary policies have led to inspiration wherever they have been implemented, particularity in Africa. Thus, we ask whether we Liberals have learned from the failures of adjustment programs (SAPs) in the country originates, the former adjusted. To do this, we have allowed us to propose a few prospects or output channels to avoid failing into the cycle of debt that DR Congo has experienced so far.

[pt] A dissertação aborda um problema real de reprogramação de uma frota de embarcações do tipo PLSV (Pipe Laying Support Vessel), responsáveis pelas interligações de poços petrolíferos submarinos. O cronograma de curto prazo dessas embarcações está sujeito à inúmeras incertezas inerentes às operações realizadas, acarretando em ociosidade nas embarcações ou postergações na produção de petróleo, que podem resultar em prejuízo de milhões de reais. Uma metaheurística ILS (Iterated Local Search) é proposta para atender a frequente demanda por reprogramações dos PLSVs. O método é composto de uma fase inicial de viabilização, para tratar potenciais inconsistências nas programações. Na sequência, iterativamente, são realizadas perturbações na solução por meio de movimentos de swap e aplicada uma busca local baseada na vizinhança insert, a fim de fugir de ótimos locais e encontrar soluções que aprimorem o cronograma. Foram feitos experimentos com diferentes parâmetros e critérios do ILS, sendo definidas duas abordagens aplicadas a dez instâncias oriundas de uma programação real de PLSVs. A partir de uma função de avaliação, capaz de medir o impacto operacional na programação, o ILS proporcionou uma melhoria média nos cronogramas acima de 91 por cento, quando comparados aos cronogramas originais. As soluções foram obtidas em um tempo computacional médio de 30 minutos, aderente ao processo da companhia. Em função dos resultados alcançados, o método provou ser uma boa base para uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão para a reprogramação dos PLSVs. / [en] This dissertation addresses a real-life rescheduling problem of a Pipe Laying Support Vessels (PLSVs) fleet, in charge of subsea oil wells interconnections. The short-term schedule of these vessels is subject to uncertainties inherent to its operations, resulting in ships idleness or delays in oil production, which may lead to losses of millions of Brazilian Reais. A method based on the ILS (Iterated Local Search) metaheuristic is proposed to meet the frequent demand of PLSVs rescheduling. The first step of this method aims to find a feasible initial solution from an incoming schedule with potencial inconsistencies. The following steps consists in, iteratively, performing a perturbation on a solution through swap movements and applying a local search based on the insertion neighborhood, in order to escape from local optimal and find better solutions. Extensive preliminary experiments were conducted considering different ILS parameters setups. The two most performing setups were selected and applied to ten instances of a real PLSV schedule. Taking into account an objective function that measures the operational impact on schedules, the ILS provided an average improvement above 91 percent in schedules when compared to the original planning. These solutions were obtained in an average computational time of 30 minutes, which fits in the company process. The obtained results showed that the proposed method might be a basis for a decision support tool for the PLSVs rescheduling problem.

Exascale systems of the future are predicted to have mean time between node failures (MTBF) of less than one hour. At such low MTBF, the number of processors available for execution of a long running application can widely vary throughout the execution of the application. Employing traditional fault tolerance strategies like periodic checkpointing in these highly dynamic environments may not be effective because of the high number of application failures, resulting in large amount of work lost due to rollbacks apart from the increased recovery overheads. In this context, it is highly necessary to have fault tolerance strategies that can adapt to the changing node availability and also help avoid significant number of application failures. In this thesis, we present two adaptive fault tolerance strategies that make use of node failure pre-diction mechanisms to provide proactive fault tolerance for long running parallel applications on large scale systems. The first part of the thesis deals with an adaptive fault tolerance strategy for malleable applications. We present ADFT, an adaptive fault tolerance framework for long running malleable applications to maximize application performance in the presence of failures. We first develop cost models that consider different factors like accuracy of node failure predictions and application scalability, for evaluating the benefits of various fault tolerance actions including check-pointing, live-migration and rescheduling. Our adaptive framework then uses the cost models to make runtime decisions for dynamically selecting the fault tolerance actions at different points of application execution to minimize application failures and maximize performance. Simulations with real and synthetic failure traces show that our approach outperforms existing fault tolerance mechanisms for malleable applications yielding up to 23% improvement in work done by the application in the presence of failures, and is effective even for petascale and exascale systems. In the second part of the thesis, we present a fault tolerance strategy using adaptive process replication that can provide fault tolerance for applications using partial replication of a set of application processes. This fault tolerance framework adaptively changes the set of replicated processes (replicated set) periodically based on node failure predictions to avoid application failures. We have developed an MPI prototype implementation, PAREP-MPI that allows dynamically changing the replicated set of processes for MPI applications. Experiments with real scientific applications on real systems have shown that the overhead of PAREP-MPI is minimal. We have shown using simulations with real and synthetic failure traces that our strategy involving adaptive process replication significantly outperforms existing mechanisms providing up to 20% improvement in application efficiency even for exascale systems. Significant observations are also made which can drive future research efforts in fault tolerance for large and very large scale systems.

[EN] Many industrial problems can be modelled as a scheduling problem where some resources are assigned to tasks so as to minimize the completion time, to reduce the use of resources, idle time, etc. There are several scheduling problems which try to represent different kind of situations that can appear in real world problems. Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSP) is the most used problem. In JSP there are different jobs, every job has different tasks and these tasks have to be executed by different machines. JSP can be extended to other problems in order to simulate more real problems. In this work we have used the problem job shop with operators JSO(n,p) where each task must also be assisted by one operator from a limited set of them. Additionally, we have extended the classical JSP to a job-shop scheduling problem where machines can consume different amounts of energy to process tasks at different rates (JSMS). In JSMS operation has to be executed by a machine that has the possibility to work at different speeds. Scheduling problems consider optimization indicators such as processing time, quality and cost. However, governments and companies are also interested in energy-consumption due to the rising demand and price of fuel, the reduction in energy commodity reserves and growing concern about global warming. In this thesis, we have developed new metaheuristic search techniques to model and solve the JSMS problem. Robustness is a common feature in real life problems. A system persists if it remains running and maintains his main features despite continuous perturbations, changes or incidences. We have developed a technique to solve the $JSO(n,p)$ problem with the aim of obtaining optimized and robust solutions. We have developed a dual model to relate optimality criteria with energy consumption and robustness/stability in the JSMS problem. This model is committed to protect dynamic tasks against further incidences in order to obtain robust and energy-aware solutions. The proposed dual model has been evaluated with a memetic algorithm to compare the behaviour against the original model. In the JSMS problem there are a relationship between Energy-efficiency, Robustness and Makespan. Therefore, the relationship between these three objectives is studied. Analytical formulas are proposed to analyse the relationship between these objectives. The results show the trade-off between makespan and robustness, and the direct relationship between robustness and energy-efficiency. To reduce the makespan and to process the tasks faster, energy consumption has to be increased. When the energy consumption is low it is because the machines are not working at highest speed. So, if an incidence appears, the speed of these machines can be increased in order to recover the time lost by the incidence. Hence robustness is directly related with energy consumption. Additionally, robustness is also directly related with makespan because, when makespan increases, there are more gaps in the solution, these incidences can be absorbed by these natural buffers. The combination of robustness and stability gives the proposal an added value due to since an incidence cannot be directly absorbed by the disrupted task and it can be repaired by involving only a small number of tasks. In this work we propose two different techniques to manage rescheduling over the JSMS problem. This work represents a breakthrough in the state of the art of scheduling problems and in particular the problem where energy consumption can be controlled by the rate of the machines. / [ES] Muchos de los problemas industriales se pueden modelar como un problema de scheduling donde algunos recursos son asignados a tareas a fin de minimizar el tiempo de finalización, para reducir el uso de los recursos, el tiempo de inactividad, etc. Job-Shop scheduling (JSP) es el problema más utilizado. En JSP hay diferentes trabajos, cada trabajo tiene diferentes tareas y estas tareas tienen que ser ejecutadas por diferentes máquinas. JSP puede ser extendido a otros problemas con el fin de simular una mayor cantidad de problemas reales. En este trabajo se ha utilizado el problema job shop scheduling con operadores JSO(n, p), donde cada tarea también debe ser asistida por un operador de un conjunto limitado de ellos. Además, hemos ampliado el clásico problema JSP a un problema donde las máquinas pueden consumir diferentes cantidades de energía al procesar tareas a diferentes velocidades (JSMS). En JSMS las operaciones tiene que ser ejecutadas por una máquina que tiene la posibilidad de trabajar a diferentes velocidades. Los problemas de scheduling consideran indicadores de optimización tales como: el procesamiento de tiempo, la calidad y el coste. Sin embargo, hoy en día los gobiernos y los empresarios están interesados también en el control del consumo de energía debido al aumento de la demanda y del precio de los combustibles, la reducción de las reservas de materias primas energéticas y la creciente preocupación por el calentamiento global. En esta tesis, hemos desarrollado nuevas técnicas de búsqueda metaheurística para modelar y resolver el problema JSMS. La robustez es una característica común en los problemas de la vida real. Un sistema persiste si permanece en funcionamiento y mantiene sus principales características a pesar de las perturbaciones continuas, cambios o incidencias. Hemos desarrollado una técnica para resolver el problema JSO(n, p) con el objetivo de obtener soluciones robustas y optimizadas. Hemos desarrollado un modelo dual para relacionar los criterios de optimalidad con el consumo de energía y la robustez/estabilidad en el problema JSMS. Este modelo se ha desarrollado para proteger a las tareas dinámicas contra incidencias, con el fin de obtener soluciones sólidas y que tengan en cuenta el consumo de la energía. El modelo dual propuesto ha sido evaluado con un algoritmo memético para comparar el comportamiento frente al modelo original. En el problema JSMS hay una relación entre la eficiencia energética, la robustez y el makespan. Por lo tanto, se estudia la relación entre estos tres objetivos. Se desarrollan fórmulas analíticas para representar la relación estimada entre estos objetivos. Los resultados muestran el equilibrio entre makespan y robustez, y la relación directa entre la robustez y eficiencia energética. Para reducir el makespan, el consumo de energía tiene que ser aumentado para poder procesar las tareas más rápido. Cuando el consumo de energía es bajo, debido a que las máquinas no están trabajando a la velocidad más alta, si una incidencia aparece, la velocidad de estas máquinas puede ser aumentada con el fin de recuperar el tiempo perdido por la incidencia. Por lo tanto la robustez está directamente relacionada con el consumo de energía. Además, la robustez también está directamente relacionada con el makespan porque, cuando el makespan aumenta hay más huecos en la solución, que en caso de surgir incidencias, estas pueden ser absorbidas por estos buffers naturales. La combinación de robustez y estabilidad da un valor añadido debido a que si una incidencia no puede ser absorbida directamente por la tarea interrumpida, esta puede ser reparada mediante la participación un pequeño número de tareas.En este trabajo se proponen dos técnicas diferentes para gestionar el rescheduling sobre el problema JSMS. Este trabajo representa un avance en el estado del arte en los problemas de scheduling y en el problema donde el consumo de energía p / [CAT] Molts dels problemes industrials es poden modelar com un problema de scheduling on alguns recursos són assignats a tasques a fi de minimitzar el temps de finalització, per a reduir l'ús dels recursos, el temps d'inactivitat, etc. Existeixen diversos tipus de problemes de scheduling que intenten representar diferents situacions que poden aparèixer en els problemes del món real. Job-Shop scheduling (JSP) és el problema més utilitzat. En JSP hi ha diferents treballs, cada treball té diferents tasques i aquestes tasques han de ser executades per diferents màquines. JSP pot ser estès a altres problemes amb la finalitat de simular una major quantitat de problemes reals. En aquest treball s'ha utilitzat el problema job shop scheduling amb operadors JSO(n, p), on cada tasca també ha de ser assistida per un operador d'un conjunt limitat d'ells. A més, hem ampliat el clàssic problema JSP a un problema on les màquines poden consumir diferents quantitats d'energia per a processar tasques a diferents velocitats (JSMS). Els problemes de scheduling consideren indicadors d'optimització tals com: el processament de temps, la qualitat i el cost. No obstant açò, avui en dia els governs i els empresaris estan interessats també amb el control del consum d'energia a causa de l'augment de la demanda i del preu dels combustibles, la reducció de les reserves de matèries primeres energètiques i la creixent preocupació per l'escalfament global. En aquesta tesi, hem desenvolupat noves tècniques de cerca metaheurística per a modelar i resoldre el problema JSMS. La robustesa és una característica comuna en els problemes de la vida real. Un sistema persisteix si continua en funcionament i manté les seues principals característiques malgrat les pertorbacions contínues, canvis o incidències. Hem desenvolupat una tècnica per a resoldre el problema JSO(n, p) amb l'objectiu d'obtenir solucions robustes i optimitzades. Hem desenvolupat un model dual per a relacionar els criteris de optimalidad amb el consum d'energia i la robustesa/estabilitat en el problema JSMS. Aquest model s'ha desenvolupat per a protegir a les tasques dinàmiques contra incidències, amb la finalitat d'obtenir solucions sòlides i que tinguen en compte el consum de l'energia. El model dual proposat ha sigut evaluat amb un algorisme memético per a comparar el comportament front un model original. En el problema JSMS hi ha una relació entre l'eficiència energètica, la robustesa i el makespan. Per tant, s'estudia la relació entre aquests tres objectius. Es desenvolupen fórmules analítiques per a representar la relació estimada entre aquests objectius. Els resultats mostren l'equilibri entre makespan i robustesa, i la relació directa entre la robustesa i l'eficiència energètica. Per a reduir el makespan, el consum d'energia ha de ser augmentat per a poder processar les tasques més ràpid. Quan el consum d'energia és baix, a causa que les màquines no estan treballant a la velocitat més alta, si una incidència apareix, la velocitat d'aquestes màquines pot ser augmentada amb la finalitat de recuperar el temps perdut per la incidència. Per tant la robustesa està directament relacionada amb el consum d'energia. A més, la robustesa també està directament relacionada amb el makespan perquè, quan el makespan augmenta hi ha més buits en la solució, que en cas de sorgir incidències, aquestes poden ser absorbides per els buffers naturals. La combinació de robustesa i estabilitat dóna un valor afegit a causa de que si una incidència no pot ser absorbida directament per la tasca interrompuda, aquesta pot ser reparada mitjançant la participació d'un xicotet nombre de tasques. En aquest treball es proposen dues tècniques diferents per a gestionar el rescheduling sobre el problema JSMS. Aquest treball representa un avanç en l'estat de l'art en els problemes de scheduling i, en particular, en el problema on el consum d'energia pot ser controlat per / Escamilla Fuster, J. (2016). Eficiencia Energética y Robustez en Problemas de Scheduling [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/64062 / TESIS

[pt] Na medida em que as redes de transmissão de energia elétrica ficaram mais malhadas, os limites térmicos de linhas e transformadores passaram a restringir menos a transmissão de potência. Similarmente, o uso de sistemas estáticos de compensação de potência reativa e estabilizadores na excitação dos geradores aumentou a capacidade de transmissão de potência nos sistemas antes limitados por problemas de estabilidade angular. Hoje as linhas de transmissão estão mais carregadas e isto deu origem ao problema da instabilidade de tensão.Neste trabalho, as condições de estabilidade de tensão são avaliadas por condições nodais associadas ao máximo fluxo de potência ativa e reativa que pode ser transmitida dos geradores para as cargas. Estas condições nodais são avaliadas por uma ferramenta analítica com base em modelo matemático, simples mas poderoso, de uma direta interpretação física do fenômeno.Índices abrangentes e significativos são obtidos a partir da matriz Jacobiano do sistema. Eles indicam a região de operação na curva V x P, Q , a margem em MVA para o máximo carregamento, a importância relativa entre as barras, uma medida de dificuldade de transmissão, e o índice de influência que relaciona as margens de potência entre dois pontos de operação, o que caracteriza a eficácia ou não, por exemplo, de uma ação de controle. O método proposto nesta tese para reforçar as condições de estabilidade de tensão consiste de três etapas seqüenciais. Primeiramente, avalia-se as condições de estabilidade de tensão determinando-se a barra crítica da rede através do cálculo da margem de potência. Determinase o caminho de transmissão crítico, conceito novo usado neste trabalho, entre os vários existentes para transportar potência de geradores para aquela barra crítica. Determina-se então o ramo crítico deste caminho, conceito introduzido neste trabalho. Um programa de fluxo de potência ótimo é usado para aliviar o carregamento desse ramo crítico. A seqüência começa novamente com a avaliação das condições no novo ponto de operação. Todas as etapas são repetidas até que as margens resultantes sejam julgadas adequadas.Barras de carga, de geração e de tensão controlada por compensadores de potência reativa em paralelo com a rede podem ser eleitas como a barra crítica. Somente o método de avaliação nodal usado é capaz de lidar com qualquer tipo de barra. Da mesma forma, o procedimento proposto para reforçar as condições de estabilidade de tensão é adequado para qualquer tipo de barra.São mostrados inúmeros testes, tanto ilustrativos como com sistemas reais, em pontos de operação também reais, inclusive na situação de iminente colapso de tensão. Verifica-se que o método proposto realmente produz os resultados desejados. / [en] As the electric power transmission networks became more interconnected, the thermal limits of lines and transformers restrict less the power transmission. Similarly, the use of static systems of reactive power compensation increases the power transmission capacity in systems whereas before they were limited by problems of angular stability. Actually, transmission lines are more loaded and create the voltage stability problem. In this work, voltage stability conditions are assessment by nodal conditions associated to the maximum active and reactive power flow that can be transmitted from generators to loads.These nodal conditions are assessment using an analytical tool, based on a simple but sound mathematical background, modelling a straightforward physical haracterisation of the phenomena. Comprehensive and meaningful indices are obtained from system Jacobean matrix. They indices indicate the operating region in V x P,Q curve, the MVA margin to the maximum load, the relative importance among buses, the buses loading ranking, a measure of difficult for power transmission, and the influence indices that relates power margins between two operating points, which characterises efficiency or not, for example, of a control action.In order to reinforce voltage stability condition, the thesis proposes a method consisting of three sequential stages. Firstly, voltage stability is analysed, deciding network critical bus using the power margin calculation. Next, the critical transmission path is decided, which is a new concept used in this work, in between several existing used to transport generators power for that critical bus. Then, critical branch is obtained through this path, concept introduced in this work. An optimal power flow program is used to alleviate load flow in the critical branch. The sequence starts again with the stability condition assessment in the new operating point. All stages are repeated until resultant margins are judged suitable. Load, generation and voltage-controlled bus by shunt reactive power compensators could be considered critical bus. The nodal method used is the only one capable of handling any bus type.Several cases are shown, illustrative as well as real systems using real operating points,including imminent voltage collapse situations. It is verified that the proposed method really produces the desired results.

Providing advanced health care at home rather than in a hospital creates a greater quality of life for patients and their families. It also lowers the risk of hospital-acquired infections and accelerates recovery. The overall cost of care per patient is decreased. Manual scheduling of patient visits by health care professionals (HCPs) has become a bottleneck for increased patient capacity at SABH, a ward providing advanced pediatric health care at home (“Sjukhusansluten Avancerad Barnsjukvård i Hemmet” in Swedish), since many parameters need to be taken into account during scheduling. This thesis aims to increase the efficiency of SABH’s daily scheduling of personnel and resources by designing an automated scheduler that constructs a daily schedule and incorporates changes in it when needed in order to remove scheduling as a limitation for increased patient capacity. Requirements on a feasible schedule are identified in cooperation with SABH and literature is investigated about similar areas where the scheduling process has been automated. The scheduling is formulated as a computerized problem and investigated from the perspective of theoretical computer science. We show that the scheduling problem is NP-hard and can therefore not be expected to be solved optimally. The algorithm for scheduling the visits minimizes violations of time windows and travel times, and maximizes person continuity and workload balancing. The algorithm constructs an initial solution that fulfills time constraints using a greedy approach and then uses local search, simulated annealing, and tabu search to iteratively improve the solution. We present an exact rescheduling algorithm that incorporates additional visits after the original schedule has been set. The scheduling algorithm was implemented and tested on real data from SABH. Although we found the algorithm to be efficient, automatic transfer of data from the patient journal system is an imperative for the scheduler to be adopted. / Barn som får avancerad sjukvård hemma istället för på sjukhus tillfrisknar ofta snabbare och risken för vårdrelaterade infektioner minskar. Barnen och deras familjer blir mer välmående av att få vistas i sin hemmiljö. På Astrid Lingrens barnsjukhus i Stockholm erbjuds avancerad hemsjukvård av avdelningen Sjukhusansluten Avancerad Barnsjukvård i Hemmet (SABH). För att schemalägga när patienterna ska besökas av sjukvårdspersonalen behöver många olika faktorer beaktas, detta sker idag helt manuellt. Den manuella schemaläggningen utgör en naturlig begränsning av SABHs patientkapacitet. Denna uppsats syftar till att effektivisera schemaläggningsprocessen hos SABH genom att föreslå en automatiserad lösning som hanterar koordinering av personal och resurser och dem förändringar som behöver göras i schemat under dagen, för att få bort schemaläggningsprocessen som ett hinder mot ökad patientkapacitet. Krav på schemaläggningen identifieras i diskussion med SABH och genom att studera litteratur kring liknande områden där schemaläggning lösts automatiserat. Vi formulerar schemaläggningen som ett datologiskt problem och analyserar det med utgångspunkt i teoretisk datalogi. Vi visar att problemet är NP-svårt och därför inte kan förväntas lösas optimalt inom rimlig tid. Vår lösning approximerar istället fram ett rimligt svar, där fokus hos algoritmen är att patienterna ska besökas de tider de behöver, personalens restider ska vara så korta som möjligt samtidigt som arbetsbördan hos personalen ska vara så lika fördelad som möjligt och patienterna ska, i den mån det är möjligt, få vård av samma personal. Med en girig algoritm konstrueras ett initialt schema som uppfyller de grundläggande kraven, detta schema förbättras med lokalsökning, simulated annealing och tabusökning. En exakt lösning framställs för uppdatering av schemat. Algoritmen för att lägga ett dagligt schema (utan uppdateringar) implementerades och testades med riktigt data från SABH. Vår algoritm visade sig vara effektiv, men för att kunna göra hela schemaläggningsprocessen effektiv behöver den integreras med journalsystemet.

The objective of an Energy Control Center (ECC) is to ensure secure and economic operation of power system. The challenge to optimize power system operation, while maintaining system security and quality of power supply to customers, is increasing. Growing demand without matching expansion of generation and transmission facilities and more tightly interconnected power systems contribute to the increased complexity of system operation. Rising costs due to inflation and increased environmental concerns has made transmission, as well as generation systems to be operated closure to design limits, with smaller safety margins and hence greater exposure to unsatisfactory operating conditions following a disturbance. Investigations of recent blackouts indicate that the root cause of most of these major power system disturbances is voltage collapse. Information gathered and preliminary analysis, from the most recent blackout incident in North America on 14th August 2003, is pointing the finger on voltage instability due to some unexpected contingency. In this incident, reports indicate that approximately 50 million people were affected interruption from continuous supply for more than 15 hours. Most of the incidents are related to heavily stressed system where large amounts of real and reactive power are transported over long transmission lines while appropriate real and reactive power resources are not available to maintain normal system conditions. Hence, the problem of voltage stability and voltage collapse has become a major concern in power system planning and operation. Reliable operation of large scale electric power networks requires that system voltages and currents stay within design limits. Operation beyond those limits can lead to equipment failures and blackouts. In the last few decades, the problem of reactive power control for improving economy and security of power system operation has received much attention. Generally, the load bus voltages can be maintained within their permissible limits by reallocating reactive power generations in the system. This can be achieved by adjusting transformer taps, generator voltages, and switchable Ar sources. In addition, the system losses can be minimized via redistribution of reactive power in the system. Therefore, the problem of the reactive power dispatch can be optimized to improve the voltage profile and minimize the system losses as well. The Instability in power system could be relieved or at least minimized with the help of most recent developed devices called Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) controllers. The use of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) controllers in power transmission system have led to many applications of these controllers not only to improve the stability of the existing power network resources but also provide operating flexibility to the power system. In the past, transmission systems were owned by regulated, vertically integrated utility companies. They have been designed and operated so that conditions in close proximity to security boundaries are not frequently encountered. However, in the new open access environment, operating conditions tend to be much closer to security boundaries, as transmission use is increasing in sudden and unpredictable directions. Transmission unbundling, coupled with other regulatory requirements, has made new transmission facility construction more difficult. In fact, there are numerous technical challenges emerging from the new market structure. There is an acute need for research work in the new market structure, especially in the areas of voltage security, reactive power support and congestion management. In the last few decades more attention was paid to optimal reactive power dispatch. Since the problem of reactive power optimization is non-linear in nature, nonlinear programming methods have been used to solve it. These methods work quite well for small power systems but may develop convergence problems as system size increases. Linear programming techniques with iterative schemes are certainly the most promising tools for solving these types of problems. The thesis presents efficient algorithms with different objectives for reactive power optimization. The approach adopted is an iterative scheme with successive power-flow analysis using decoupled technique, formulation and solution of the linear-programmingproblem with only upper-bound limits on the state variables. Further the thesispresents critical analysis of the three following objectives, Viz., •Minimization of the sum of the squares of the voltage deviations (Vdesired) •Minimization of sum of the squares of the voltage stability L indices (Vstability) •Minimization of real power losses (Ploss) Voltage stability problems normally occur in heavily stressed systems. While the disturbance leading to voltage collapse may be initiated by a variety of causes, the underlying problem is an inherent weakness in the power system. The factors contributing to voltage collapse are the generator reactive power /voltage control limits, load characteristics, characteristics of reactive compensation devices, and the action of the voltage control devices such as transformer On Load Tap Changers (OLTCs). Power system experiences abnormal operating conditions following a disturbance, and subsequently a reduction in the EHV level voltages at load centers will be reflected on the distribution system. The OLTCs of distribution transformers would restore distribution voltages. With each tap change operation, the MW and MVAR loading on the EHV lines would increase, thereby causing great voltage drops in EHV levels and increasing the losses. As a result, with each tap changing operation, the reactive output of generators throughout the system would increase gradually and the generators may hit their reactive power capability limits, causing voltage instability problems. Thus, the operation of certain OLTCs has a significant influence on voltage instability under some operating conditions. These transformers can be made manual to avoid possible voltage instability due to their operation during heavy load conditions. Tap blocking, based on local measurement of high voltage side of load tap changers, is a common practice of power utilities to prevent voltage collapse. The great advantage of this method is that it can be easily implemented, but does not guarantee voltage stability. So a proper approach for identification of critical OLTC s based on voltage stability criteria is essential to guide the operator in ECC, which has been proposed in this thesis. It discusses the effect of OLTCs with different objectives of reactive power dispatch and proposes a technique to identify critical OLTCs based on voltage stability criteria. The fast development of power electronics based on new and powerful semiconductor devices has led to innovative technologies, such as High Voltage DC transmission (HVDC) and Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS), which can be applied in transmission and distribution systems. The technical and economicalBenefits of these technologies represent an alternative to the application in AC systems. Deregulation in the power industry and opening of the market for delivery of cheaper energy to the customers is creating additional requirements for the operation of power systems. HVDC and FACTS offer major advantages in meeting these requirements. .A method for co-ordinated optimum allocation of reactive power in AC/DC power systems by including FACTS controller UPFC, with an objective of minimization of the sum of the squares of the voltage deviations of all the load buses has been proposed in this thesis. The study results show that under contingency conditions, the presence of FACTS controllers has considerable impact on over all system voltage stability and also on power loss minimization.minimization of the sum of the squares of the voltage deviations of all the load buses has been proposed in this thesis. The study results show that under contingency conditions, the presence of FACTS controllers has considerable impact on over all system voltage stability and also on power loss minimization. As power systems grow in their size and interconnections, their complexity increases. For secure operation and control of power systems under normal and contingency conditions, it is essential to provide solutions in real time to the operator in ECC. For real time control of power systems, the conventional algorithmic software available in ECC are found to be inadequate as they are computationally very intensive and not organized to guide the operator during contingency conditions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques such as, Expert systems, Neural Networks, Fuzzy systems are emerging decision support system tools which give fast, though approximate, but acceptable right solutions in real time as they mostly use symbolic processing with a minimum number of numeric computations. The solution thus obtained can be used as a guide by the operator in ECC for power system control. Optimum real and reactive power dispatch play an important role in the day-to-day operation of power systems. Existing conventional Optimal Power Flow (OPF) methods use all of the controls in solving the optimization problem. The operators can not move so many control devices within a reasonable time. In this context an algorithm using fuzzy-expert approach has been proposed in this thesis to curtail the number of control actions, in order to realize real time objectives in voltage/reactive power control. The technique is formulated using membership functions of linguistic variables such as voltage deviations at all the load buses and the voltage deviation sensitivity to control variables. Voltage deviations and controlling variables are translated into fuzzy set notations to formulate the relation between voltage deviations and controlling ability of controlling devices. Control variables considered are switchable VAR compensators, OLTC transformers and generator excitations. A fuzzy rule based system is formed to select the critical controllers, their movement direction and step size. Results show that the proposed approach is effective for improving voltage security to acceptable levels with fewer numbers of controllers. So, under emergency conditions the operator need not move all the controllers to different settings and the solution obtained is fast with significant speedups. Hence, the proposed method has the potential to be integrated for on-line implementation in energy management systems to achieve the goals of secure power system operation. In a deregulated electricity market, it may not be always possible to dispatch all of the contracted power transactions due to congestion of the transmission corridors. System operators try to manage congestion, which otherwise increases the cost of the electricity and also threatens the system security and stability. An approach for alleviation of network over loads in the day-to-day operation of power systems under deregulated environment is presented in this thesis. The control used for overload alleviation is real power generation rescheduling based on Relative Electrical Distance (RED) concept. The method estimates the relative location of load nodes with respect to the generator nodes. The contribution of each generator for a particular over loaded line is first identified , then based on RED concept the desired proportions of generations for the desired overload relieving is obtained, so that the system will have minimum transmission losses and more stability margins with respect to voltage profiles, bus angles and better transmission tariff. The results obtained reveal that the proposed method is not only effective for overload relieving but also reduces the system power loss and improves the voltage stability margin. The presented concepts are better suited for finding the utilization of resources generation/load and network by various players involved in the day-to-day operation of the system under normal and contingency conditions. This will help in finding the contribution by various players involved in the congestion management and the deviations can be used for proper tariff purposes. Suitable computer programs have been developed based on the algorithms presented in various chapters and thoroughly tested. Studies have been carried out on various equivalent systems of practical real life Indian power networks and also on some standard IEEE systems under simulated conditions. Results obtained on a modified IEEE 30 bus system, IEEE 39 bus New England system and four Indian power networks of EHV 24 bus real life equivalent power network, an equivalent of 36 bus EHV Indian western grid, Uttar Pradesh 96 bus AC/DC system and 205 Bus real life interconnected grid system of Indian southern region are presented for illustration purposes.

In today's competitive environment, the importance of continuous production, quality improvement, and fast delivery has forced production and delivery processes to become highly reliable. Keeping equipment in good condition through maintenance activities can ensure a more reliable system. However, maintenance leads to temporary reduction in capacity that could otherwise be utilized for production. Therefore, the coordination of maintenance and production is important to guarantee good system performance. The central thesis of this dissertation is that integrating maintenance and production decisions increases efficiency by ensuring high quality production, effective resource utilization, and on-time deliveries. Firstly, we study the problem of integrated maintenance and production planning where machines are preventively maintained in the context of a periodic review production system with uncertain yield. Our goal is to provide insight into the optimal maintenance policy, increasing the number of finished products. Specifically, we prove the conditions that guarantee the optimal maintenance policy has a threshold type. Secondly, we address the problem of integrated maintenance planning and production scheduling where machines are correctively maintained in the context of a dynamic aircraft repair shop. To solve the problem, we view the dynamic repair shop as successive static repair scheduling sub-problems over shorter periods. Our results show that the approach that uses logic-based Benders decomposition to solve the static sub-problems, schedules over longer horizon, and quickly adjusts the schedule increases the utilization of aircraft in the long term. Finally, we tackle the problem of integrated maintenance planning and production scheduling where machines are preventively maintained in the context of a multi-machine production system. Depending on the deterioration process of machines, we design decomposed techniques that deal with the stochastic and combinatorial challenges in different, coupled stages. Our results demonstrate that the integrated approaches decrease the total maintenance and lost production cost, maximizing the on-time deliveries. We also prove sufficient conditions that guarantee the monotonicity of the optimal maintenance policy in both machine state and the number of customer orders. Within these three contexts, this dissertation demonstrates that the integrated maintenance and production decision-making increases the process efficiency to produce high quality products in a timely manner.