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Smart energy management mandates a more decentralized energy infrastructure, entailing energy consumption information on a local level. Household-based energy consumption trends are becoming important to achieve reliable energy management for such local power systems. However, predicting energy consumption on a household level poses several challenges on technical and practical levels. The literature lacks studies addressing prediction of energy consumption on an individual household level. In order to provide a feasible solution, this paper presents a framework for predicting the average daily energy consumption of individual households. An ensemble method, utilizing information diversity, is proposed to predict the day-ahead average energy consumption. In order to further improve the generalization ability, a robust regression component is proposed in the ensemble integration. The use of such robust combiner has become possible due to the diversity parameters provided in the ensemble architecture. The proposed approach is applied to a case study in France. The results show significant improvement in the generalization ability as well as alleviation of several unstable-prediction problems, existing in other models. The results also provide insights on the ability of the suggested ensemble model to produce improved prediction performance with limited data, showing the validity of the ensemble learning identity in the proposed model. We demonstrate the conceptual benefit of ensemble learning, emphasizing on the requirement of diversity within datasets, given to sub-ensembles, rather than the common misconception of data availability requirement for improved prediction.

A wide range of nuisance wildlife dwells in proximity to and within earthen dams and levee systems. Burrowing animals often dig tunnels and holes inside earth structures for habitat or grub and flatten the external slopes for maneuvering and in search for food or preys. Other animals and cattle have less invasive effects on earthen structures. Most of these detrimental activities result in altering external and internal geometry of earthen structures. Damage caused by wildlife in earthen hydraulic structures is typically associated with internal and external erosion and sometimes boils. Animal burrows have an adverse impact on the hydraulic performance and structural integrity of the earthen dams. In addition to their direct damage, wildlife activities could have serious influence on human life, public health and safety, agriculture, food chain, environmental balance, and ecology. Several federal, state, and local agencies in the United States and other agencies and organizations worldwide have reported information on observed wildlife activities in earth dams and levee systems. This information, however, is generally incomprehensive and often sparsely published in local periodicals and maintenance reports. The consequences of animal presence and their activities on earthen structures are recognized by some involved agencies; however, they appear to be generally given disproportionate attention. As such, the majority of the pertinent literature addresses wildlife damage to earthen structures as a nuisance issue that require more efficient management plans and proper maintenance procedures. This review article summarizes published articles as well as internet cited material on nuisance wildlife behavior in earth dams and levee systems. More emphasis is placed on the animals that pose imminent threats to the performance and functionality of earthen structures. Common characteristics of animal burrows and intrusions in earthen dams are discussed and summarized. Documented damages and reported failures of earth structures initiated by animal activities are compiled. Current wildlife management techniques are discussed. Available estimates of cost of damages and failures due to wildlife intrusions are also highlighted.

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The histopathology induced by Camallanus oxycephalus and Spinitectus carolini in the intestine of green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus was examined. At what is assumed to be more recent attachment sites, penetration of C. oxycephalus was restricted to the mucosal layer, causing complete destruction of the columnar epithelium. At what appeared to be older attachment sites, the parasite penetrated deep into the intestinal wall, even to the circular muscle layer. At these sites of attachment, there were flask-shaped ulcers in the mucosal and submucosal layers. Surrounding the ulcers, there was granulomatous tissue, with extensive fibrosis at the surface; the fibrosis probably reduced the loss of body fluids and blood cells from the intestinal wall. The number of goblet cells in the posterior end of the intestine increased significantly, from 92.6 cells/mm in uninfected fish to 168.4 cells/mm in fish infected with more than 5 C. oxycephalus. Adult S. carolini also causes severe damage to the intestinal wall of green sunfish. Parasite penetration was not limited to the mucosal layer. Mature worms were observed invading both the muscular and serosal layers. Penetration by the parasite was usually associated with the local loss of columnar epithelium and infiltration by lymphocytes and granulocytic leukocytes. Fibrosis in the mucosal layer was commonly observed. There was goblet cell hyperplasia in the anterior portion of the intestine, with numbers of goblet cells increasing from 64.4 cells/mm in uninfected fish to 95.0 cells/mm in heavily infected fish.

The near-face stability of D-shaped tunnels excavated in a Mohr–Coulomb material subjected to anisotropic in situ stress conditions is investigated in the present study. The construction of the intake tunnel of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is analyzed using three-dimensional elasto-plastic finite element analysis. The induced displacement and stresses around the tunnel opening as the face advances are compared to the field measurements recorded during the tunnel excavation. The effect of rock mass strength reduction on the tunnel deformation, face stability, and distribution of stresses at the tunnel circumference is investigated for different in situ stress conditions. When the ratio of rock mass strength to overburden pressure falls below 0.5, excessive deformation occurrs and squeezing of the rock mass becomes a problem that can cause instability of both the tunnel circumference and the face.Key words: weak rock, tunnelling, horizontal stresses, three-dimensional, finite element, excavation, face stability.

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