Multi-Step Clustering of Smart Meters Time Series:Application to Demand Flexibility Characterization of SME Customers

Customer segmentation according to load-shape profiles using smart meter data is an increasingly important application to vital the planning and operation of energy systems and to enable citizens’participation in the energy transition.This study proposes an innovative multi-step clustering procedure to segment customers based on load-shape patterns at the daily and intra-daily time horizons.Smart meter data is split between daily and hourly normalized time series to assess monthly,weekly,daily,and hourly seasonality patterns separately.The dimensionality reduction implicit in the splitting allows a direct approach to clustering raw daily energy time series data.The intraday clustering procedure sequentially identifies representative hourly day-unit profiles for each customer and the entire population.For the first time,a step function approach is applied to reduce time series dimensionality.Customer attributes embedded in surveys are employed to build external clustering validation metrics using Cramer’s V correlation factors and to identify statistically significant determinants of load-shape in energy usage.In addition,a time series features engineering approach is used to extract 16 relevant demand flexibility indicators that characterize customers and corresponding clusters along four different axes:available Energy(E),Temporal patterns(T),Consistency(C),and Variability(V).The methodology is implemented on a real-world electricity consumption dataset of 325 Small and Medium-sized Enterprise(SME)customers,identifying 4 daily and 6 hourly easy-to-interpret,well-defined clusters.The application of the methodology includes selecting key parameters via grid search and a thorough comparison of clustering distances and methods to ensure the robustness of the results.Further research can test the scalability of the methodology to larger datasets from various customer segments(households and large commercial)and locations with different weather and socioeconomic conditions.

Taxpayers Fraudulent Behavior Modeling The Use of Datamining in Fiscal Fraud Detecting Moroccan Case

The fraudulent behavior of taxpayers impacts negatively the resources available to finance public services. It creates distortions of competition and inequality, harming honest taxpayers. Such behavior requires the government intervention to bring order and establish a fiscal justice. This study emphasizes the determination of the interactions linking taxpayers with tax authorities. We try to see how fiscal audit can influence taxpayers’ fraudulent behavior. First of all, we present a theoretical study of a model pre established by other authors. We have released some conditions of this model and we have introduced a new parameter reflecting the efficiency of tax control;we found that the efficiency of a fiscal control have an important effect on these interactions. Basing on the fact that the detection of fraudulent taxpayers is the most difficult step in fiscal control, We established a new approach using DATA MINING process in order to improve fiscal control efficiency. We found results that reflect fairly the conduct of taxpayers that we have tested based on actual statistics. The results are reliable.

The Impact of Tax Policies on Taxpayers Budget in Terms of Risk, Sensitivity and Volatility

Local and central governments are concerned to develop fiscal policies that are based on principles already enshrined in the literature as the principle of equity and/or the principle of fiscal appropriateness. Beyond these principles, the governments want to make sure that all taxpayers have the capacity to pay at maturity the tax debts owed to the public budget. In crisis situations, as recent experience has shown, governments adopt fiscal policy measures, with the sole purpose of procuring financial resources to cover the huge government budget deficits. In this situation, a natural question arises： Do governments need, for the elaboration of their fiscal policy, an analysis that takes into account the taxpayer＇s budget？ Or is it sufficient that they confine only to the theoretical principles enshrined in the literature or the tax paying ability of the taxpayers？ The answer can only be affirmative, because any taxpayer＇s budget is an inexhaustible source of resources for the public budgets. It is undisputed that in the taxpayer＇s budget, the tax expenditures coexist with other categories of expenditures such as consumption expenditures, durable expenditures and public utilities expenditures. Each expenditure type is risk-bearing. To study the structure of budget expenditures within the taxpayer, the authors suggest the use of three indicators innovative for the science of public finance： the risk, the sensitivity coefficient and the coefficient of volatility. Depending on the values registered by the three indicators of fiscal policies, expenditures can be classified as risky, volatile and sensitive which may lead to risks of failure to collect the taxes and/or to tax evasion. Innovative for the science of public finances is that the fundamentation of the fiscal policies is realized using the three indicators, the budget of the taxpayer and the networking between the categories of expenditures that fall within its budget structure

Impact of Tax Audit on Tax Compliance with Reference to Category“A”Taxpayers:A Case Study in Hawassa City Administration,South Nations,Nationalities and Peoples’Regional State of Ethiopia

The main issue faced by all tax authorities is that it has never been easy to persuade all taxpayers to comply with the regulations of a tax system.Business sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy in Ethiopia.The study specifically sought the effect of tax audit,fines and penalties,and tax education and knowledge on tax compliance in Hawassa City,south nations,nationalities and peoples’regional state.Population under this research comprises Hawassa City audit officers who are 50 audit officers.Since the number of staff is not large,the study used census approach.Data were collected using structured questionnaire,both primary and secondary data were used.Descriptive statistical tools and correlation and multiple regressions analysis were used in analyzing the data collected.The study findings showed that probability of tax audit,and tax knowledge and education have positive effect on level of tax compliance.Similarly,fines/penalties have positive effect on level of tax compliances.The study provides some preliminary evidence that probability of tax audit,imposing fines/penalties and provision of tax knowledge and education will improve tax compliance.There should be stiff enforcement of fines and penalties to deter tax evasion.Additionally,tax authorities should simplify processes involved in filling of returns and payment of taxes.

Voluntary tax compliance behavior of individual taxpayers in Pakistan

Governments settle their financial obligations and pay for the public expenditures largely through finances generated from taxes.For many developing countries like Pakistan,the state authorities are still having difficulty to achieve tax compliance.Existing literature has yet to traverse individual’s tax compliance behavior on developing countries.The current study,however,explores the relationships among voluntary tax compliance behavior of individual taxpayers with selected economic,social,behavioral and institutional factors.This individual tax compliance behavior is studied through the multi-perspective lenses of the theory of attribution,equity theory,expected utility theory,and social exchange theory.Quantitative design using the survey method was employed to collect data from 435 individual taxpayers through questionnaire.For testing linkage between constructs,through mediation and moderation tests,structural equation modeling technique was used.The results suggest that tax compliance simplicity has a larger impact on tax filing than perception about Government Spending and tax morale.Furthermore,perception of fairness significantly mediates the strengths between morale,simplicity,government spending and compliance behavior.

An Uneven Impact of Emerging Technologies on Taxpayers With Various Income Levels Audited by the IRS: Empirical Evidence From an AI Technology Application and Regression Models

This study aims to investigate the influence of emerging technology adoption on tax compliance, encompassing both the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) compliance audits and taxpayers’ compliance performance (collectively, tax compliance). We employed the Gradient Descent optimization algorithm, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology application, to scrutinize the connection between the quality of US tax filings and the development of emerging technology, among other contributing factors. Additionally, we utilized multiple linear regression to evaluate the relationships between dependent variables, specifically IRS audit rates and the no-change rate at different income levels,1 and several independent variables, including a proxy for emerging technology in the form of tax software. Our findings reveal that while emerging technology significantly impacts tax compliance within the IRS and taxpayers’ performance, its effects vary across income groups. Notably, emerging technology seems to confer greater advantages to higher-income individuals compared to their lower-income counterparts. These study results hold considerable policy implications for government decision-makers in promoting the adoption of emerging technology among lower-income taxpayers.

Influencing Factors of Taxpayers'Tax Compliance in the Perspective of Government Governance

At present,government governance reflects that the new public management plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the social participation of democratic individuals,stimulating the vitality of the society,as well as improving the equal consultation between citizens and governments under the guidance of the governance spirit.Especially in the process of transformation of the industrial society,significant changes have taken place in government governance modes.The government plays important roles in the democratic society to form clear theoretical frameworks in view of then-understanding towards the modernization of government governance.With significant development of information technology,existing modes of social and economic developments had transformed in addition to profound social changes.These developments would affect the research on government governance.In the perspective of government governance,it is of great significance to explore its role in the influence towards tax compliance especially under the current system and mechanism to create an excellent tax compliance spirit.From existing research,the main aspects used in measuring government governance are the openness of government affairs,social justice,and individuals5 understanding of the tax law.With existing research,201 survey questionnaires of the subjects,validity analysis,descriptive statistics analysis,correlation analysis,regression analysis,and other methods,this study made bold assumptions on the relationship between government governance and tax compliance.The conclusion in which government governance,measured in terms of government affairs,degree of social justice,and personal understanding of the tax law would influence taxpayers5 tax compliance in terms of then-consciousness towards tax compliance.At present time,the study of government governance and taxpayers,tax compliance has practical significance and application value.This study would provide an opportunity for citizens to have a preliminary understanding of overall tax compliance and maintain the spirit of tax compliance from an individuaFs subjective consciousness in addition to providing suggestions to improve government governance for promoting tax compliance.

Research on Demand Response Potential of Adjustable Loads in Demand Response Scenarios

To address the issues of limited demand response data,low generalization of demand response potential evaluation,and poor demand response effect,the article proposes a demand response potential feature extraction and prediction model based on data mining and a demand response potential assessment model for adjustable loads in demand response scenarios based on subjective and objective weight analysis.Firstly,based on the demand response process and demand response behavior,obtain demand response characteristics that characterize the process and behavior.Secondly,establish a feature extraction and prediction model based on data mining,including similar day clustering,time series decomposition,redundancy processing,and data prediction.The predicted values of each demand response feature on the response day are obtained.Thirdly,the predicted data of various characteristics on the response day are used as demand response potential evaluation indicators to represent different demand response scenarios and adjustable loads,and a demand response potential evaluation model based on subjective and objective weight allocation is established to calculate the demand response potential of different adjustable loads in different demand response scenarios.Finally,the effectiveness of the method proposed in the article is verified through examples,providing a reference for load aggregators to formulate demand response schemes.

A Combination Prediction Model for Short Term Travel Demand of Urban Taxi

This study proposes a prediction model considering external weather and holiday factors to address the issue of accurately predicting urban taxi travel demand caused by complex data and numerous influencing factors.The model integrates the Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise(CEEMDAN)and Convolutional Long Short Term Memory Neural Network(ConvLSTM)to predict short-term taxi travel demand.The CEEMDAN decomposition method effectively decomposes time series data into a set of modal components,capturing sequence characteristics at different time scales and frequencies.Based on the sample entropy value of components,secondary processing of more complex sequence components after decomposition is employed to reduce the cumulative prediction error of component sequences and improve prediction efficiency.On this basis,considering the correlation between the spatiotemporal trends of short-term taxi traffic,a ConvLSTM neural network model with Long Short Term Memory(LSTM)time series processing ability and Convolutional Neural Networks(CNN)spatial feature processing ability is constructed to predict the travel demand for urban taxis.The combined prediction model is tested on a taxi travel demand dataset in a certain area of Beijing.The results show that the CEEMDAN-ConvLSTM prediction model outperforms the LSTM,Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model(ARIMA),CNN,and ConvLSTM benchmark models in terms of Symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error(SMAPE),Root Mean Square Error(RMSE),Mean Absolute Error(MAE),and R2 metrics.Notably,the SMAPE metric exhibits a remarkable decline of 21.03%with the utilization of our proposed model.These results confirm that our study provides a highly accurate and valid model for taxi travel demand forecasting.

Optimal dispatching strategy for residential demand response considering load participation

To facilitate the coordinated and large-scale participation of residential flexible loads in demand response(DR),a load aggregator(LA)can integrate these loads for scheduling.In this study,a residential DR optimization scheduling strategy was formulated considering the participation of flexible loads in DR.First,based on the operational characteristics of flexible loads such as electric vehicles,air conditioners,and dishwashers,their DR participation,the base to calculate the compensation price to users,was determined by considering these loads as virtual energy storage.It was quantified based on the state of virtual energy storage during each time slot.Second,flexible loads were clustered using the K-means algorithm,considering the typical operational and behavioral characteristics as the cluster centroid.Finally,the LA scheduling strategy was implemented by introducing a DR mechanism based on the directrix load.The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed DR approach can effectively reduce peak loads and fill valleys,thereby improving the load management performance.

Stochastic programming based coordinated expansion planning of generation,transmission,demand side resources,and energy storage considering the DC transmission system

With the increasing penetration of wind and solar energies,the accompanying uncertainty that propagates in the system places higher requirements on the expansion planning of power systems.A source-grid-load-storage coordinated expansion planning model based on stochastic programming was proposed to suppress the impact of wind and solar energy fluctuations.Multiple types of system components,including demand response service entities,converter stations,DC transmission systems,cascade hydropower stations,and other traditional components,have been extensively modeled.Moreover,energy storage systems are considered to improve the accommodation level of renewable energy and alleviate the influence of intermittence.Demand-response service entities from the load side are used to reduce and move the demand during peak load periods.The uncertainties in wind,solar energy,and loads were simulated using stochastic programming.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed model is verified through numerical simulations.

Demand-Responsive Transportation Vehicle Routing Optimization Based on Two-Stage Method

Demand-responsive transportation(DRT)is a flexible passenger service designed to enhance road efficiency,reduce peak-hour traffic,and boost passenger satisfaction.However,existing optimization methods for initial passenger requests fall short in addressing real-time passenger needs.Consequently,there is a need to develop realtime DRT route optimization methods that integrate both initial and real-time requests.This paper presents a twostage,multi-objective optimization model for DRT vehicle scheduling.The first stage involves an initial scheduling model aimed at minimizing vehicle configuration,and operational,and CO_(2)emission costs while ensuring passenger satisfaction.The second stage develops a real-time scheduling model to minimize additional operational costs,penalties for time window violations,and costs due to rejected passengers,thereby addressing real-time demands.Additionally,an enhanced genetic algorithm based on Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II(NSGA-II)is designed,incorporating multiple crossover points to accelerate convergence and improve solution efficiency.The proposed scheduling model is validated using a real network in Shanghai.Results indicate that realtime scheduling can serve more passengers,and improve vehicle utilization and occupancy rates,with only a minor increase in total operational costs.Compared to the traditional NSGA-II algorithm,the improved version enhances convergence speed by 31.7%and solution speed by 4.8%.The proposed model and algorithm offer both theoretical and practical guidance for real-world DRT scheduling.

Physics Guided Deep Learning-Based Model for Short-Term Origin–Destination Demand Prediction in Urban Rail Transit Systems Under Pandemic

Accurate origin–destination(OD)demand prediction is crucial for the efficient operation and management of urban rail transit(URT)systems,particularly during a pandemic.However,this task faces several limitations,including real-time availability,sparsity,and high-dimensionality issues,and the impact of the pandemic.Consequently,this study proposes a unified framework called the physics-guided adaptive graph spatial–temporal attention network(PAG-STAN)for metro OD demand prediction under pandemic conditions.Specifically,PAG-STAN introduces a real-time OD estimation module to estimate real-time complete OD demand matrices.Subsequently,a novel dynamic OD demand matrix compression module is proposed to generate dense real-time OD demand matrices.Thereafter,PAG-STAN leverages various heterogeneous data to learn the evolutionary trend of future OD ridership during the pandemic.Finally,a masked physics-guided loss function(MPG-loss function)incorporates the physical quantity information between the OD demand and inbound flow into the loss function to enhance model interpretability.PAG-STAN demonstrated favorable performance on two real-world metro OD demand datasets under the pandemic and conventional scenarios,highlighting its robustness and sensitivity for metro OD demand prediction.A series of ablation studies were conducted to verify the indispensability of each module in PAG-STAN.

Optimal Bidding Strategies of Microgrid with Demand Side Management for Economic Emission Dispatch Incorporating Uncertainty and Outage of Renewable Energy Sources

In the restructured electricity market,microgrid(MG),with the incorporation of smart grid technologies,distributed energy resources(DERs),a pumped-storage-hydraulic(PSH)unit,and a demand response program(DRP),is a smarter and more reliable electricity provider.DER consists of gas turbines and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic systems and wind turbines.Better bidding strategies,prepared by MG operators,decrease the electricity cost and emissions from upstream grid and conventional and renewable energy sources(RES).But it is inefficient due to the very high sporadic characteristics of RES and the very high outage rate.To solve these issues,this study suggests non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm Ⅱ(NSGA-Ⅱ)for an optimal bidding strategy considering pumped hydroelectric energy storage and DRP based on outage conditions and uncertainties of renewable energy sources.The uncertainty related to solar and wind units is modeled using lognormal and Weibull probability distributions.TOU-based DRP is used,especially considering the time of outages along with the time of peak loads and prices,to enhance the reliability of MG and reduce costs and emissions.

A Novel Defender-Attacker-Defender Model for Resilient Distributed Generator Planning with Network Reconfiguration and Demand Response

To improve the resilience of a distribution system against extreme weather,a fuel-based distributed generator(DG)allocation model is proposed in this study.In this model,the DGs are placed at the planning stage.When an extreme event occurs,the controllable generators form temporary microgrids(MGs)to restore the load maximally.Simultaneously,a demand response program(DRP)mitigates the imbalance between the power supply and demand during extreme events.To cope with the fault uncertainty,a robust optimization(RO)method is applied to reduce the long-term investment and short-term operation costs.The optimization is formulated as a tri-level defenderattacker-defender(DAD)framework.At the first level,decision-makers work out the DG allocation scheme;at the second level,the attacker finds the optimal attack strategy with maximum damage;and at the third level,restoration measures,namely distribution network reconfiguration(DNR)and demand response are performed.The problem is solved by the nested column and constraint generation(NC&CG)method and the model is validated using an IEEE 33-node system.Case studies validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model according to the enhanced resilience and reduced cost.

Vehicle routing optimization algorithm based on time windows and dynamic demand

To provide the supplier with the minimizum vehicle travel distance in the distribution process of goods in three situations of new customer demand,customer cancellation service,and change of customer delivery address,based on the ideas of pre-optimization and real-time optimization,a two-stage planning model of dynamic demand based vehicle routing problem with time windows was established.At the pre-optimization stage,an improved genetic algorithm was used to obtain the pre-optimized distribution route,a large-scale neighborhood search method was integrated into the mutation operation to improve the local optimization performance of the genetic algorithm,and a variety of operators were introduced to expand the search space of neighborhood solutions;At the real-time optimization stage,a periodic optimization strategy was adopted to transform a complex dynamic problem into several static problems,and four neighborhood search operators were used to quickly adjust the route.Two different scale examples were designed for experiments.It is proved that the algorithm can plan the better route,and adjust the distribution route in time under the real-time constraints.Therefore,the proposed algorithm can provide theoretical guidance for suppliers to solve the dynamic demand based vehicle routing problem.

A Note on an Order Level Inventory Model with Varying Two-Phased Demand and Time-Proportional Deterioration

The main purpose of this paper is to generalize the effect of two-phased demand and variable deterioration within the EOQ (Economic Order Quantity) framework. The rate of deterioration is a linear function of time. The two-phased demand function states the constant function for a certain period and the quadratic function of time for the rest part of the cycle time. No shortages as well as partial backlogging are allowed to occur. The mathematical expressions are derived for determining the optimal cycle time, order quantity and total cost function. An easy-to-use working procedure is provided to calculate the above quantities. A couple of numerical examples are cited to explain the theoretical results and sensitivity analysis of some selected examples is carried out.

Fuzzy Inventory Model under Selling Price Dependent Demand and Variable Deterioration with Fully Backlogged Shortages

The objective is to develop a model considering demand dependent on selling price and deterioration occurs after a certain period of time, which follows two-parameter Weibull distribution. Shortages are allowed and fully backlogged. Fuzzy optimal solution is obtained by considering hexagonal fuzzy numbers and for defuzzification Graded Mean Integration Representation Method. A numerical example is provided for the illustration of crisp and fuzzy, both models. To observe the effect of changes in parameters, sensitivity analysis is carried out.

A Note on a One-Parameter Weibull Distributed Deteriorating Item EOQ Inventory Model with Varying Quadratic Demand and Delay in Payments

In this paper, an EOQ inventory model is developed for deteriorating items with variable rates of deterioration and conditions of grace periods when demand is a quadratic function of time. The deterioration rate considered here is a special type of Weibull distribution deterioration rate, i.e., a one-parameter Weibull distribution deterioration rate and it increases with respect to time. The quadratic demand precisely depicts of the demand of seasonal items, fashion apparels, cosmetics, and newly launched essential commodities like android mobiles, laptops, automobiles etc., coming to the market. The model is divided into three policies according to the occurrence of the grace periods. Shortages, backlogging and complete backlogging cases are not allowed to occur in the model. The proposed model is well-explained with the help of a simple solution procedure. The three numerical examples are taken to illustrate the effectiveness of the EOQ inventory model along with sensitivity analysis.

Demand and Analysis of Clinical Research Curriculum in Medical Universities

Objective:To investigate the needs of medical students regarding clinical research curricula to provide scientifically sound offerings and cultivate their clinical research thinking.Methods:From June to October 2022,medical students at medical universities in Shaanxi Province were surveyed using online questionnaires.The survey covered their demographic information,awareness of their major,understanding of clinical research,and preferences for curriculum content.Results:A total of 341 valid questionnaires were analyzed.Medical students demonstrated a strong awareness of their majors but a relatively low awareness of clinical research.There was significant demand for clinical research courses,with preferences for professionally oriented(81.8%),market-oriented(100%),theoretically and practically integrated teaching(78.6%),and application-focused(73.0%)courses.Conclusion:Medical colleges and universities should align clinical research curricula with the actual needs of medical students and clinical practice.Reforms in curriculum design and teaching methods are essential to better prepare students for careers in public health.