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a b s t r a c tThe increasing demand for electricity and the emergence of smart grids have presented new opportunities for home energy management systems (HEMS) in demand response markets. HEMS are demand response tools that shift and curtail demand to improve the energy consumption and production profile of a dwelling on behalf of a consumer. HEMS usually create optimal consumption and production schedules by considering multiple objectives such as energy costs, environmental concerns, load profiles, and consumer comfort.The existing literature has presented several methods, such as mathematical optimization, model predictive control, and heuristic control, for creating efficient operation schedules and for making good consumption and production decisions. However, the effectiveness of the methods in the existing literature can be difficult to compare due to diversity in modelling parameters, such as appliance models, timing parameters, and objectives.The present paper provides a comparative analysis of the literature on HEMS, with a focus on modelling approaches and their impact on HEMS operations and outcomes. In particular, we discuss a set of HEMS challenges such as forecast uncertainty, modelling device heterogeneity, multi-objective scheduling, computational limitations, timing considerations, and modelling consumer well-being.The presented work is organized to allow a reader to understand and compare the important considerations, approaches, nomenclature, and results in prominent and new literary works without delving deeply into each one.

Highlights d Cross-study meta-analysis of metagenomes covering 3,655 samples from two body sites d Meta-analysis uncovers staggering microbial gene diversity d 50% of all genes in a metagenomic sample are individualspecific or ''singletons'' d Individual's microbiomes can be fingerprinted via rare microbial strains

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Because of the rapid growth of small-scale solar electricity generation over the past few years, forecasting solar power output is becoming more important. However, changes in weather conditions cause solar power generation to be highly volatile. This paper analyses the challenges of solar power forecasting and then presents a similar day-based forecasting tool to do 24-h-ahead forecasting for small-scale solar power output forecasting.

Demand response plays an important role in the development of the smart grid, which can effectively manage society's energy consumption. Cooling devices, such as refrigerators and freezers, are ideal devices for demand-response programs because their energy states can be controlled without reducing the lifestyle and comfort of the residents. Conversely, managing air conditioning and space heating would affect a resident's comfort level. Direct compressor control and thermostat control methods have been proposed in the past for controlling cooling devices but they are never studied concurrently. This paper proposes a new control mechanism and compares the effectiveness of the three control mechanisms for cooling devices in demand response. In addition, this paper illustrates the need for a damping strategy to mitigate demand oscillations that occur from synchronous fleet control.

Humans have unique cognitive abilities among primates, including language, but their molecular, cellular, and circuit substrates are poorly understood. We used comparative single nucleus transcriptomics in adult humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, rhesus macaques, and common marmosets from the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) to understand human-specific features of cellular and molecular organization. Human, chimpanzee, and gorilla MTG showed highly similar cell type composition and laminar organization, and a large shift in proportions of deep layer intratelencephalic-projecting neurons compared to macaque and marmoset. Species differences in gene expression generally mirrored evolutionary distance and were seen in all cell types, although chimpanzees were more similar to gorillas than humans, consistent with faster divergence along the human lineage. Microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes showed accelerated gene expression changes compared to neurons or oligodendrocyte precursor cells, indicating either relaxed evolutionary constraints or positive selection in these cell types. Only a few hundred genes showed human-specific patterning in all or specific cell types, and were significantly enriched near human accelerated regions (HARs) and conserved deletions (hCONDELS) and in cell adhesion and intercellular signaling pathways. These results suggest that relatively few cellular and molecular changes uniquely define adult human cortical structure, particularly by affecting circuit connectivity and glial cell function.

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