Customer load characteristics plays the ndamental role for more reliable load forecasting. It can also be used to enhance the system expansion planning and economic dispatch more effectively. Besides, the system capacity shortage due to peak loading can be relieved by the strategy of energy conservation and load management with customer load models. A systematic procedure is proposed in this thesis to study the effect of temperature change to the power system load demand by using the typical load patterns of customer classes. The billing data of all service customers are retrieved to derive the daily load profile of the selected Taipower district. To verify the accuracy of the estimated load composition, the simulation results are compared to the actual load profile collected by the SCADA system. The sensitivity analysis of load demand with respect to the temperature change for each customer class is performed by statistic regression according to the actual customer power consumption and temperature data. With temperature rise, the load contribution by each customer class is updated by the corresponding temperature sensitivity and integrated together to form the new load profile of the service district. In the future, the load research will play more important role for power utility companies. Load data will be utilized to a greater extent by various departments in utility companies. For instance, the proposed load survey system can solve the customer load characteristics more accurately to support various applications. By refer the temperature sensitivity analysis based on the customer load research, can evaluate the potential of air conditioner load management to reduce the system peak loading can be inhibit. With this information, the proper incentive of cycling control of air conditioners can be designed to achieve more effective load management.

The plasma membrane, which separates intracellular contents from extra cellular milieu, consists of a lipid bilayer comprising mainly phospholipids and cholesterol together with various functional proteins, which control the interaction of the cell with its environment. Cells are killed at elevated temperatures and previous work suggests that the plasma membrane may be a primary target in this hyperthermic cell death. The present study set out to test this hypothesis using a rat liver tumour cell hue (Hepatoma Tissue Culture cells). Several different experimental approaches were adopted. Supplementation of these cells with linoleic acid (18 : 2) for a 36 hour period increased the thermal sensitivity of cells at 43 C, though increased sensitivity was not evident at other times. Plasma membrane-enriched fractions were obtained from control cells and from cells supplemented with linoleic acid for a 36 hour period, then lipids were extracted and characterised. Whilst there was little difference in the cholesterol : phospholipid ratio, the phospholipid fatty acid composition of membranes from supplemented cells showed elevated levels of 18 : 2 and decreased levels of oleic acid (18 : 1) relative to control cell membranes. DPH fluorescence polarisation studies indicated that plasma membranes from supplemented cells were less 'ordered' than control membranes. Alkaline phosphodiesterase I, a plasma membrane-bound enzyme, appeared to be more thermolabile in supplemented cells suggesting that plasma membrane 'fluidity' may be an important factor in determining the thermal sensitivity of this membrane-bound enzyme. Hyperthermic cell death was potentiated by the presence of local anaesthetics, two of which, dibucaine and tetracaine, also produced less 'ordered' membranes. Morphological studies conducted on cells in the presence and absence of local anaesthetic at elevated temperatures indicated changes in cellular surface morphology on heating which were accelerated in the presence of the anaesthetic. The intermediate filament network of these cells did not appear to be a primary target of hyperthermic treatment. These studies suggest that the lipid composition and physical state of the plasma membrane are critical features involved in the expression of cell death, possibly through a modulation of membrane protein thermal sensitivity.

A systematic procedure is proposed in this thesis to study the effect of temperature change to the power system load demand by using the typical load patterns of customer classes. The billing data of all service customers are retrieved to derive the daily load profile of the selected Taipower district. To verify the accuracy of the estimated load composition, the simulation results are compared to the actual load profile collected by the SCADA system. The sensitivity analysis of load demand with respect to the temperature change for each customer class is performed by statistic regression according to the actual customer power consumption and temperature data. With temperature rise, the load contribution by each customer class is updated by the corresponding temperature sensitivity and integrated together to form the new load profile of the service district. To investigate the effect of customer load characteristics to system stability, the equivalent circuit of Taipower 345 KV network is created. With the integration of the load composition by load survey study and temperature sensitivity of customer load, the load demand of each load bus is derived. For fault contingency of system buses, the transient stability analysis has performed to determine the critical clearing time under different temperature conditions.

The objective of this thesis is to study the load forecasting of distribution feeders and substations for Fong-Shan District of Taiwan Power Company. To increase the accuracy of load forecasting, the load characterization of customers served has been investigated. The typical load patterns of different customers classes and derived by performing the statistic of power consumption data retrieved. The daily load profiles and load consumptions data distribution feeders and substations have been solved by considering the typical load patterns and energy consumption of all customers served. To investigate the correlation ship of temperature and energy consumption of customer classes, the temperature sensitivity of customer energy consumption has been used to update the load composition and the contribution of load change by different customer classes. To perform the load forecasting of distribution systems, the linear, nonlinear and hybrid load forecasting modules have been proposed. The historical load data of distribution feeders and substations in Fong-Shan District have been used to derive the load forecasting modules. To analyze the accuracy of load forecasting by considering the temperature effect, the temperature change is included in the load forecasting module. With the load forecasting derived, the proper load transfers among different distribution feeders and different substations have been determined to achieve the load balancing of service areas.

The Temperature Sensitivity Analysis of Power System Load Demand with Neural Networks Chih-Hung Chen* Chao-Shun Chen** Institute of Electrical Engineering National Sun Yat-Sen University Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C. ABSTRACT The analysis of customer load characteristic plays the fundamental role of power system operation. Based on the load survey study, the load pattern of each customer class is derived to achieve more effective load forecast for system planning to reduce the risk of system capacity shortage. For the load survey study, a stratified sampling method has been used to select the proper size of customers for meter installation to collect the customer power consumption. By the way, the customer load patterns derived can represent the load behavior of whole customer population. The standardized daily load pattern of each customer class has been solved with the mean per-unit method of customer load. According to the total power consumption by all customers within the same class and considering the corresponding daily load pattern, the daily load profile of the customer class is then determined. The standard daily load pattern of each customer class and total power consumption within the territory of service districts of Taipower system are integrated to construct Taipower system daily load profile. The temperature sensitivity analysis of customer power consumption is performed for each customer class by applying neural networks. The proposed method has been used to investigate the change of power consumption due to temperature rise for each district and Taipower system. For the districts with high ratio of the air conditioner loading, the increase of power consumption is in proportion to the temperature. It is concluded that the research of temperature sensitivity on power consumption can support power system operation and better capacity planning of power system in the future. *Author **Advisor

This paper is to investigate the impact of temperature sensitivity to the load profiles of power system by artificial neural networks (ANN). The load survey study is performed to derive the typical load patterns of the residential, commercial, and industrial customers respectively. By executing the training process of customer power consumption and temperature, the ANN model is created to derive the temperature sensitivity of power consumption for each customer class, which is then used to solve the impact of temperature rise to system power profiles. According to the system load composition and temperature sensitivity of power consumption by each customer class, the hourly increase of system power loading due to 1¢J temperature rise is solved. To study the temperature effect to the system reliability, the ¡§IEEE Reliability Test System¡¨ is selected as test system for power system reliability analysis. Based on the temperature sensitivity of power consumption for each customer class and load composition of each load bus. The power demand is updated with the temperature rise. The temperature sensitivity of commercial customers is very significant because of the high air conditioner loading. When the system load composition is most composed of commercial customers, the power demand are due to temperature rise will have very critical impact to system reliability. On the other hand, the tempearture rise will have less impact of reliability analysis for the system which serves high percentage of industrial customers. It is concluded that the research of temperature sensitivity on power consumption can provide important information for system reliability analysis. Better substation planning and system capacity expansion can be obtained to meet system reliability criterion by taking into account the temperature effect to system loading.

Rises in anthropogenic CO2 emissions are now widely acknowledged to be responsible for changes in the global climate, with potentially disastrous consequences if these rises continue unchecked. Although knowledge of ecosystem responses to climate change has improved, there are still large underlying uncertainties regarding their response to warming. Of all the ecosystems with the potential to mitigate rises in CO2, forests are arguably the most important because of their huge land area and store of carbon. A large proportion of the carbon stored in forests is found in the soil, and it is the response of this soil carbon to temperature that is the main determinant of a forest’s ability to act as a carbon sink, or indeed source. Understanding the response of soil carbon flux to temperature, as well as the contribution of soil carbon flux to the carbon balance of forests as a whole is crucial in helping to improve modelling approaches. In this thesis I first examined the temperature response of old and new soil organic carbon from a Sitka spruce plantation under controlled laboratory conditions. Both the old and new soil organic carbon showed similar temperature sensitivities after prolonged incubation at 20 °C, thus implying a similar response to increasing temperatures. Using a variety of different methods (root intensity, meshing and stable isotope analysis) I then studied the responses under field conditions. These methods showed that autotrophic respiration was responsible for up to 50 % of total soil respiration, and was more sensitive to temperature than heterotrophic respiration. Finally, I compared the contributions and determinants (particularly temperature and moisture) of soil respiration fluxes to ecosystem fluxes at a temperate (Sitka spruce) and Mediterranean (Maritime pine) forest. Temperature was found to be the dominant driver of soil respiration fluxes at the temperature forest, whilst soil respiration was limited by moisture at the Mediterranean forest. Statistically significant relationships between net ecosystem productivity and soil respiration (and the stable isotope signature of soil respiration) were found at both forests, indicating a close coupling between above-ground processes and soil respiration.

The relationship between temperature and soil respiration has been well explored although uncertainties remain. This thesis examined the relationship between temperature and rates of heterotrophic respiration in soils from three adjacent sub-alpine Australian vegetation types; woodland, shrubland and grassland. Temperature sensitivity of soil (Q10) has recently been a hotly debate topic, one side concluding that decomposition of recalcitrant, less labile components of soil organic matter are insensitive to temperature. Whilst others argue that there is no difference in the temperature sensitivities of labile and recalcitrant carbon pools. Robust modeling of rates of soil respiration requires characterization of the temperature response of both labile and recalcitrant pools. Laboratory incubation provides a means of characterizing the temperature response of rates of respiration whilst reducing the confounding effects encountered in the field, such as seasonal fluctuations in temperature, moisture and substrate supply. I used a novel system that allowed laboratory measurement of gas exchange in soils over a range of temperatures under controlled conditions. Measurements included CO2 efflux and O2 uptake over a range of temperatures from 5 to 40oC, characterization of temperature response and sensitivity, and respiratory quotients. Rates of heterotrophic respiration fitted both exponential and Arrhenius functions and temperature sensitivity varied and depended on the model used, vegetation type and depth in the soil profile. Long-term incubation indicated both labile and resistant pools of carbon had similar temperature sensitivities. Respiratory quotients provided a strongly predictive measure of the potential rate of decomposition of soil C, independent of the temperature response of respiration, providing a tool that may be used alongside derived parameters to help understand shifts in microbial use of C substrates. Vegetation type influenced soil chemical properties and rates of heterotrophic respiration. Rates of respiration correlated well with concentrations of carbon and nitrogen as has been previously observed, unlike previous studies however a positive correlation was observed between indices of plant available phosphorus and respiration. The soils examined were from three adjacent vegetation types formed on common geology, I concluded that vegetation type had a significant influence on soil, in contrast to the commonly held view by ecologists that soil type drives patterns in vegetation. Climatic effects such as longer, dryer hotter summer, reduced snow cover and increased incidence of extreme weather events such as frosts and bushfire are likely to drive patterns in vegetation in this region and therefore have a significant impact on carbon cycling in Sub-alpine Australian soils.

abstract: Protein folding is essential in all cells, and misfolded proteins cause many diseases. In the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, protein folding must be carefully controlled during envelope biogenesis to maintain an effective permeability barrier between the cell and its environment. This study explores the relationship between envelope biogenesis and cell stress, and the return to homeostasis during envelope stress. A major player in envelope biogenesis and stress response is the periplasmic protease DegP. Work presented here explores the growth phenotypes of cells lacking degP, including temperature sensitivity and lowered cell viability. Intriguingly, these cells also accumulate novel cytosolic proteins in their envelope not present in wild-type. Association of novel proteins was found to be growth time- and temperature-dependent, and was reversible, suggesting a dynamic nature of the envelope stress response. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of envelopes followed by mass spectrometry identified numerous cytoplasmic proteins, including the elongation factor/chaperone TufA, illuminating a novel cytoplasmic response to envelope stress. A suppressor of temperature sensitivity was characterized which corrects the defect caused by the lack of degP. Through random Tn10 insertion analysis, aribitrarily-primed polymerase chain reaction and three-factor cross, the suppressor was identified as a novel duplication-truncation of rpoE, here called rpoE'. rpoE' serves to subtly increase RpoE levels in the cell, resulting in a slight elevation of the SigmaE stress response. It does so without significantly affecting steady-state levels of outer membrane proteins, but rather by increasing proteolysis in the envelope independently of DegP. A multicopy suppressor of temperature sensitivity in strains lacking degP and expressing mutant OmpC proteins, yfgC, was characterized. Bioinformatics suggests that YfgC is a metalloprotease, and mutation of conserved domains resulted in mislocalization of the protein. yfgC-null mutants displayed additive antibiotic sensitivity and growth defects when combined with null mutation in another periplasmic chaperone, surA, suggesting that the two act in separate pathways during envelope biogenesis. Overexpression of YfgC6his altered steady-state levels of mutant OmpC in the envelope, showing a direct relationship between it and a major constituent of the envelope. Curiously, purified YfgC6his showed an increased propensity for crosslinking in mutant, but not in a wild-type, OmpC background. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Microbiology 2010

Soil respiration is an important source of atmospheric CO2, with the potential for large positive feedbacks with global warming. The size of these feedbacks will depend on the relative sensitivity to temperature of very large global pools of highly stable soil organic matter (SOM), with residence times of centuries or longer. Conflicting evidence exists as to the relationships between temperature sensitivity of respiration and stability of SOM, as well as the temperature sensitivity of individual stabilisation mechanisms. This PhD considers the relationship between different stabilisation mechanisms and the temperature sensitivity of SOM decomposition. I used physical fractionation to isolate SOM pools with a variety of turnover rates, from decadal to centennially cycling SOM, in a peaty gley topsoil from Harwood Forest. Mean residence times of SOM as determined by 14C dating was most strongly affected by depth, providing stability on a millienial scale, while OM-mineral associations and physical protection of aggregates provided stability to around 500 years. Chemical characteristics of organic material in these fractions and whole soils (13C CP-MAS NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, FTIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, ICP-OES) indicated the relative contribution of different stabilisation mechanisms to the longevity of each of these fractions. Two long-term incubations of isolated physical fractions and soil horizons at different temperatures provided information about the actual resistance to decomposition in each SOM pool, as well as the temperature sensitivity of respiration from different pools. Naturally 13C-labelled labile substrate additions to the mineral and organic horizons compared the resistance to priming by labile and recalcitrant substrates. Manipulation of soil pore water was investigated as a method for isolating the respiration of SOM from physically occluded positions within the soil architecture. Contadictory lines of evidence emerged on the relative stability of different SOM pools from 14C dating, incubation experiments and chemical characterisation of indicators of stability. This led to the interpretation that physical aggregate protection primarily controls SOM stability within topsoils, while mineral and Fe oxide stability provides more lasting stability in the mineral horizon. Less humified and younger SOM was found to have a higher sensitivity to temperature than respiration from well-humified pools, in contrast to predictions from thermodynamics.