Transition towards a full self-sufficiency through PV systems integration for sub-Saharan Africa: a technical approach for a smart blockchain-based mini-grid

Access to affordable, reliable and clean energy is an important sustainability goal of the United Nations. In areas where the public electricity grid is unreliable or unavailable, photovoltaic systems can be a solution. However, they are cost-intensive, mainly because of the energy storage systems. Mini-grids can be an answer for reducing upfront investment and overall system lifetime costs while increasing electricity availability. The mini-grid technology is mature, nevertheless, there are downsides when it comes to integrating existing solar systems of different manufacturers. The system topology is usually predefined and a central instance controls the mini-grid. Thus, the integration of existing power systems is difficult due to the communication constraints of these systems with the mini-grid controller. Including existing power systems into a decentralized mini-grid, can highly increase cost-efficiency. In a decentralized approach payments for the consumed energy between mini-grid actors are required. Accounting is, however, a complex administrative procedure, if the respective power systems are owned by different individuals and organizations. A transparent blockchain-based temper-proof approach can be a solution to automate metering and billing, allowing automatic payments between independent subsystem owners using smart contracts. In order to further optimize the smart mini-grid, an artificial intelligence learning algorithm for a dynamic electricity price needs to be developed. This smart and decentralized approach for building Mini-Grids is a novelty bringing solar systems one step closer to self-sufficiency. This paper describes how a smart mini-grid solution can be implemented using the Don Bosco Solar & Renewable Energy Center campus mini-grid in Tema, Ghana as a case study.

DRINKS OF THE PEOPLES OF DAGESTAN IN THE 19TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The purpose of the article is to analyze the drinks of the peoples of Dagestan in the period under study, which represent a certain independent subsystem within the general food system. The article was written based on the material of the ethnographic expeditions of 1985-2005. in the districts of Dagestan.The relevance of the research topic is due to the environmental crisis, initiated by the growth of industrialization, increased antagonism. an appeal to the historical experience of the peoples of Dagestan makes it possible to identify positive examples of an eco-oriented attitude towards the natural environment of the Dagestanis in the period under study. The heightened interest in the national origins of modern culture, in particular, in everyday culture, which has emerged recently; the location of Dagestan in the contact zone, in which local traditional forms and phenomena are intertwined with European and Near Eastern ones, also actualize the topic raised in the article.The ethnographic materials of the author became the sources for the study. Field ethnographic materials on the peoples of Dagestan are considered from the point of view of a special and comprehensive study of drinks as a specific subsystem within the general nutrition system. The generalization of information from sources on ethnography made it possible to get an idea of ​​the place and composition of the drinks of the peoples of Dagestan, about the stability of traditions, about the dependence on natural and geographical conditions and economy.Methodology of the work. The research is based on the principle of historicism, which makes it possible to analyze the traditional drinks of the peoples of Dagestan in the context of socio-cultural changes. Also, the method of logical research has become important in the article, the task of which is to reveal the role that the individual elements of the system play in the whole. Along with general scientific methods, private research methods were used in the work: identifying a specific, descriptive method, a method of generalization. The field of application of the research results is in educational and research activities.

MICROECONOMIC POLICY OF RUSSIA: IMPERATIVES OF CHANGE

The article defines the place of the state’s microeconomic policy in the general socio-­economic policy. A tiered approach to the formation of state policy in developing the population of economic entities is substantiated. The microeconomic policy of the state at a new stage of the country’s socio-­economic development should be singled out as an independent subsystem inside the general economic policy. Within that, this subsystem should be based on the system approach, evolution, ecosystem viewpoint, balance, and sustainability of the development of the microeconomic sphere. Finally, the principles of the state’s microeconomic policy are formulated.

NEWS AGENCIES IN THE MODERN MEDIA SYSTEM

В статье анализируется положение информационных агентств в современной системе средств массовой информации. Информационные агентства рассматриваются как самостоятельная подсистема, дополняющая печать, радио, телевидение и Интернет. Анализируется трансформация их деятельности в условиях новых технологий. The article analyzes the place of news agencies in the modern media system. News agencies are studied as an independent subsystem that complements print, radio, television and the Internet. The transformation of their activities in the context of new technologies is also analyzed.

Emphasis in functionally developed systems of strategic management of special purpose by enterprises and associations of an independent subsystem of integrated economic analysis (evaluation)

The study of management functions in the conditions of functionally developed systems of strategic administration of special purpose by industrial enterprises and scientific-industrial associations from the standpoint of the systematic approach gives the reason to conclude that any part of the organizational management system can be recognized by the subsystem if the following requirement is fulfilled: y subsystems can be allocated parts that have systematic features and which in turn can be called tasks (complexes of tasks) of a given subsystem emu management. The possibility of fulfilling this one requirement in the conditions of creation in the functionally developed systems of strategic administration of the special purpose of industrial enterprises and scientific-industrial associations of an independent (autonomous) functional subsystem (function) of analytical processing of technical and economic information data (systematic economic analysis and evaluation) is considered. In the conditions of functionally developed systems of strategic management of special purpose by industrial enterprises and scientific-industrial associations, each of the types of subsystem (function) of analytical processing of technical and economic information data can be represented in the form of corresponding blocks of programs that implement sets of sequentially interconnected economically -Analytical tasks that form the functional configuration of integrated economic analysis and evaluation. This leads to the conclusion that in the subsystem of analytical processing of technical and economic information data there are structural parts, which undoubtedly possess system features, and, consequently, a requirement which consists in isolation in the functionally developed systems (methods) of strategic management of special purpose by industrial enterprises and scientific-production associations of the independent function of integrated economic analysis and evaluation are also performed.

The Transformation of Competencies of Auditors in the Hotel Industry Concerning New Tendencies in the Development of the Audit Institute

This article is aimed at: formulating the key competencies of auditors in accordance with modern directions of audit development; substantiating the need and disclosing the logic of implementation of strategic adaptation of the competencies of auditors of the hotel industry enterprises; determining the internal and external processes that impact the formation of strategic adaptation of the auditor’s competency system and the development of the audit institute in general. It is proved that the introduction of the latest innovative changes, methods and forms of organization of interaction between all subjects and institutes of audit activity will allow: to satisfy the interests of modern users of audit services and related areas of the hotel industry; to preserve competitive advantages in the industry; to provide guaranty for the sustainable business development. Taking into account the popular competencies caused by the new trends in the development of the audit will contribute to the substantiation and construction of the procedure for implementing strategic adaptation of the competencies of auditors of the hotel industry enterprises on the principles of adaptability, complexity and synergism. As a result, the set of competencies of the auditor is becoming more and more interesting and in demand for users of management accounting and reporting, acquires additional functions and tasks in the context of the development of the hotel industry. Under the influence of both the internal and the external processes, there is a further division of the audit institute into an independent subsystem of the hotel cluster. The results formulated in the course of the research allow us to state that in the future it will be expedient to analyze certain factors and components influencing the strategy of adaptation of the system of the auditors’ competencies.

English and Russian Somatic Phraseological Units: Differentiating Outcomes

This paper deals with the outcomes of a comparative analysis of English and Russian somatic phraseological units, namely the lexical, structural and semantic levels have been involved; the total number of somatic phraseological units is more than 300 units. Somatic phraseological units (further as PhUs) represent a wide group in any language. The lexical and semantic group of somatic PhUs is regarded an independent subsystem within Phraseology of any language. This system is comprised of PhUs whose key constituent parts include human body part names (from Greek soma means human body or a body part). It should be noted that the most frequent PhUs include somatisms. This circumstance can hardly be explained by interlinguistic reasons only. The somatic components correspond both to sensual (eye) and logic (head) level of knowledge and a criterion of its validity-practice (hand). PhUs with somatisms in their structure appeared in different languages at different time due to the development of the language, culture, social and political contacts of the nation with other nations. However, PhUs with somatisms have some general basis for the use of any human body parts, to express physical and psychological states, feeling and emotions of people. Somatic PhUs belong to a highly-frequent zone of lexical structure, to its oldest, primordial, and socially significant part. As a rule, they are polysemantic words, their separate transferred meaning to a greater or lesser extent are noticeable in phraseological meanings of separate PhUs. Nevertheless, the main, primary and direct meanings (of a body part) play the decisive role in the formation and use of any somatic PhUs.

The Reliability Model of AC-Asynchronous Drive Based on the Multilevel Prognosis System Supported by Matrices and Digraphs Methods

Author of this article presents an authorship reliability model of a AC-asynchronous drive written in accordance with assumptions of the multilevel prognosis system based on matrices and digraphs methods. Described model take advantage of knowledge gathered from specialists on the basis of their experience. It is worth to stress that parameters of the reliability model of the AC-drive meet the requirements of units utilized in case of distributed drives. Each change of its application range requires a modification of internal parameters, but the functional structure remains without any variations, because presented reliability model has been based on the functional structure. An intention of the author is focused on an elaboration of a collection of reliability models [ of distributed drives components, prepared in accordance with the multilevel system of prognosis based on matrices and digraphs methods. The model has been specified to the level of the independent subsystem. This approach allows the use of this model in the analysis of complex systems, consisting of separated drive subsystems, which meet the requirements of the method. Using multilevel prediction models should be possible in all applications of electric drives, regardless of purpose functions.

WHANs Based Smart Home System Designing in Intelligent Buildings

This paper presents a new and competitive smart home system in intelligent buildings based on wireless home automation networks (WHANs). Our designed system has three layers: ultimate controller, data transmission network, and wireless sensor networks. The merits of our system include two folds: 1) it is easy to be adopted in our home without any changing our existing electronic devices; 2) unlike other independent subsystem, the whole-sale functions of smart system are integrated into our system, it can perform well from many anticipant applications. The efficacy of our designed system is proven by practical application environment.

Decentralized robust control of robot manipulators with harmonic drive transmission and application to modular and reconfigurable serial arms

SUMMARYIn this paper, we propose a decentralized robust control algorithm for modular and reconfigurable robots (MRRs) based on Lyapunov's stability analysis and backstepping techniques. In using decentralized control schemes with robot manipulators, each joint is considered as an independent subsystem, and the dynamical effects from the other links and joints are treated as disturbance. However, there exist many uncertainties due to unmodeled dynamics, varying payloads, harmonic drive (HD) compliance, HD complex gear meshing mechanisms, etc. Also, while the reconfigurability of MRRs is advantageous, modifying the configuration will result in changes to the robot dynamics parameters, thereby making it challenging to tune the control system. All of the above mentioned disturbances in addition to reconfigurability present a challenge in controlling MRRs. The proposed controller is well suited for MRR applications because of its simple structure that does not require the exact knowledge of the dynamic parameters of the configurations. Desired tracking performance can be achieved via tuning a limited set of parameters of the robust controller. If the numbers of degrees of freedom are held constant, these parameters are shown to be relatively independent of the configuration, and can be held constant between changes in configuration. This strategy is novel compared to existing MRR control methods. In order to validate the controller performance, experimental setup and results are also presented.