Impacts of Metering-Based Dynamic Priority Schemes

Several works published over the last two decades have shown for a stylized set-up with homogeneous users that metering-based priority (MBP) schemes may generate Pareto improving departure time adjustments similar to those induced by congestion pricing, but without any financial transaction. We investigate whether MBP (i) still generates significant savings and (ii) remains Pareto-improving, with various sources of heterogeneity (in schedule flexibility, desired arrival time, and capacity usage). We consider two types of schemes: one where the priority status is allocated randomly (R-MBP) and another (HOV-MBP), which only prioritizes users with small capacity usage (e.g., carpoolers). We find that the relative total cost savings of R-MBP decrease with heterogeneity in flexibility, but may increase with heterogeneity in desired arrival time. It fails however to be Pareto-improving, as nonprioritized users are almost systematically worse-off. HOV-MBP circumvents this issue by generating an ordering effect and a modal shift, which both contribute to a better distribution of benefits among users. Under favorable circumstances, they may even restore a Pareto improvement. Overall, MBP appears as a realistic way to alleviate congestion, scoring well both in terms of efficiency and social acceptability.

Proposal of Priority Schemes for Controlling Electric Vehicle Charging and Discharging in a Workplace Power System with High Penetration of Photovoltaic Systems

Using Electric Vehicles (EV) as Flexible Resources (FR) to increase surplus Photovoltaic (PV) power utilisation is a well-researched topic. Our previous study showed that EVs are viable as supplementary FRs in large capacity PV power systems, where EVs are likely to gather (i.e., workplaces). However, that study assumed all EVs to have identical arrival and departure times (availability), and battery capacities. As these characteristics may vary between EVs and affect their performance as FRs, this study expands the modelling of EVs to consider a variety of availabilities and battery capacities. To effectively utilise a variety of EVs as FRs, an Optimisation Electric-load Dispatching model is used to formulate priority schemes for charging and discharging the EVs based on their potential to contribute to the power system. The priority schemes are evaluated by simulating the annual operation of the power system both with and without the priority schemes, and comparing results. The power system is simulated using a Unit-Scheduling and Time-series Electric-load Dispatching model. The priority schemes reduced annual CO2 emissions by nearly 1%, compared to the case without the priority schemes. The performances of different EVs as FRs when the priority schemes are used and not used are also analysed.

The US Press and Imperialism: the Transfer of Ideas and Practices in 1945—1948

No research in the colonial system issues during the Cold War would be complete without studying the press of the participating parties. In order to give a detailed analysis of the international relationships in terms of the global transformations from the American point of view, the author draws relevant newspaper articles published after the World War II. The results have shown changes to priority schemes as viewed in American social discourse during 1945—1948. Roosevelt’s plan for the dismantling of the colonial empires was gradually replaced with less radical plans, which presupposed using the colonial experience for foreign policy of the USA.

Improving Dependability via Deadline Guarantees in Commodity Real-time Networks

Software-defined Networking (SDN) can facilitate the deployment of deterministic algorithms with stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements that pave the way for commodity Real-time (RT) networks. However, current QoS approaches are conservative and under-provision the network, that becomes a bottleneck when scaling or upgrading infrastructure. In this paper, we argue that the use of fixed priorities for flows – a common practice in RT networks, is the root-cause of this issue. We develop algorithms that use the global view provided by SDN to develop on-demand, variable priority schemes. Evaluation shows that this “correct by construction” approach increases network utilization while still meeting the necessary QoS requirements, thereby improving network robustness under high utilization.

Improving Dependability via Deadline Guarantees in Commodity Real-time Networks

Software-defined Networking (SDN) can facilitate the deployment of deterministic algorithms with stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements that pave the way for commodity Real-time (RT) networks. However, current QoS approaches are conservative and under-provision the network, that becomes a bottleneck when scaling or upgrading infrastructure. In this paper, we argue that the use of fixed priorities for flows – a common practice in RT networks, is the root-cause of this issue. We develop algorithms that use the global view provided by SDN to develop on-demand, variable priority schemes. Evaluation shows that this “correct by construction” approach increases network utilization while still meeting the necessary QoS requirements, thereby improving network robustness under high utilization.

Priority Schemes for Life Extension and Data Delivery in Body Area Wireless Sensor Networks with Cognitive Radio Capabilities

Wireless sensor networks have recently been used to monitor bioelectric signals generated by the human body. However, since the dimensions and capabilities of the network nodes are small and limited, a problem is generated inherently by the energy consumption and radioelectric interference. In view of this, we propose two priority schemes to improve the performance of the network. In the first one, we aim at increasing the system lifetime by reducing the number of transmissions of nodes with low energy levels. In the second scheme, we aim at conveying priority data to the sink node as fast and efficient as possible. In the former scheme, users can be monitored for long time periods considering a low data generation. On the other hand, the latter scheme allows expediting transmission of important data when energy efficiency is not relevant. In this article, we mathematically model, analyze, and study the performance of the system for both priority schemes considering cognitive radio capabilities to make efficient use of resources and limit the radioelectric interference when the network transmits both continuous monitoring and event detection information. Numerical results provided in this work allow a careful parameter selection for practical implementation of BANETs.