Microgrids have become a hot topic driven by the dual pressures of environmental protection concerns and the energy crisis. In this paper, a challenge for the distributed control of a modern electric grid incorporating clusters of residential microgrids is elaborated and a hierarchical multi-agent system (MAS) is proposed as a solution. The issues of how to realize the hierarchical MAS and how ...

1. Zarriello, P., and K. Ries. 2000. A Precipitation-Runoff Model for Analysis of the Effects of Water Withdrawals on Streamflow, Ipswich River Basin, Massachusetts. United States Geological Survey, Denver, CO. 2. Bicknell, B. R., J. C. Imhoff, J. L. Kittle, A. S. Donigian, and R. C. Johanson. 1993. Hydrologic Simulation Program—FORTRAN (HSPF): User’s manual for release 10.0. EPA 600/3-84-066. ...

The use of renewable energy sources is one of the most relevant goals to be achieved in order to match the climate protection targets. As a case study, the paper shows the current electrical energy production by sources in the Sicilian context. Among the renewable energy sources, the paper investigates the wave energy potential along the Sicilian coasts, because of the favorable climate around ...

Natural sources account for most of the radiation we all receive each year. The nuclear fuel cycle does not give rise to significant radiation exposure for members of the public, and even in two major nuclear accidents – Three Mile Island and Fukushima – radiation has caused no harm to the public. Radiation protection standards assume that any dose of radiation, no matter how small, involves a ...

freshwater lens on small islands may easily be overexploited or polluted due to overdrafts of fresh water by pumping which causes drawdown of the water table a rise or up-coning of the saltwater interface. present study is concerned with using a three-dimensional finite-difference numerical model to simulate the groundwater flow and transport model to predict the behavior of groundwater system ...

In mid-2014, there was global media coverage of a decision by the New Zealand Immigration and Protection Tribunal, heralded as the first legal recognition of ‘climate change refugees’. Despite the hype, the Tribunal had made no such finding. The case concerned a family of four from the small Pacific island State of Tuvalu, who argued, among other things, that the effects of climate change—in pa...

The Larsemann Hills range is an ice-free oasis on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, which includes Bharti Island, Fisher Island, McLeod Island, Broknes Peninsula, Stornes Peninsula, and several other islands, promontories, and nunataks. The Larsemann Hills is an ice-free area of approximately 50 km2, located halfway between the Vestfold Hills a...

—From 1980 to 1998, Washington’s Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) population increased at an annual rate of 10%. Over the same time period, foraging activity of Bald Eagles at marine bird breeding colonies also increased. From 1993 to 2008, we observed foraging-related behavior of Bald Eagles on Violet Point, Protection Island. This island hosts more than 70% of the breeding seabirds in Wa...

CONTEXT Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and it is one of the most preventable. Interventions for young children and their parents can help prevent future cases of skin cancer. OBJECTIVE To determine whether a skin cancer prevention program implemented at outdoor recreation sites improved children's sun-protection behaviors and site sun-protection policies. ...

first method, samples are collected and the concentration of DON or individual DON components are monitored over time. To measure DON flux rates using 15N tracer techniques. all of the DIN forms (N~ + , NO3 -.and NO2 -) must be removed, and the DON pool must be isolated with a high efficiency. At present. there are three basic approaches used to isolate DON-wet chemistry, ion retardation, and d...