Ant colony optimization for feasible scheduling of step-controlled smart grid generation

The electrical energy grid is currently experiencing a paradigm shift in control. In the future, small and decentralized energy resources will have to responsibly perform control tasks like frequency or voltage control. For many use cases, scheduling of energy resources is necessary. In the multi-dimensional discrete case–e.g., for step-controlled devices–this is an NP-hard problem if some sort of intermediate energy buffer is involved. Systematically constructing feasible solutions during optimization, hence, becomes a difficult task. We prove the NP-hardness for the example of co-generation plants and demonstrate the multi-modality of systematically designing feasible solutions. For the example of day-ahead scheduling, a model-integrated solution based on ant colony optimization has already been proposed. By using a simulation model for deciding on feasible branches, artificial ants construct the feasible search graphs on demand. Thus, the exponential growth of the graph in this combinatorial problem is avoided. We present in this extended work additional insight into the complexity and structure of the underlying the feasibility landscape and additional simulation results.

l-Lactate: Food for Thoughts, Memory and Behavior

More and more evidence shows how brain energy metabolism is the linkage between physiological and morphological synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation. Different types of memory are associated with differential inputs, each with specific inputs that are upstream diverse molecular cascades depending on the receptor activity. No matter how heterogeneous the response is, energy availability represents the lowest common denominator since all these mechanisms are energy consuming and the brain networks adapt their performance accordingly. Astrocytes exert a primary role in this sense by acting as an energy buffer; glycogen granules, a mechanism to store glucose, are redistributed at glance and conveyed to neurons via the Astrocyte–Neuron Lactate Shuttle (ANLS). Here, we review how different types of memory relate to the mechanisms of energy delivery in the brain.