Palace-and park complexes play very important role in the art of gardening. Contemporarily, they draw from historic experience, taking into account also modern solutions. Nowadays, to raise the value of the above mentioned objects, elements enlivening the given area – compositions made of flowers. Part of flower beds reconstruct historic layouts, others are new elements designed to add additional aesthetic value.
In order to solve the problem of harmonic waves caused by battery energy storage (BES) and distributed generation (DG) inverters in an active distribution network, an intelligent optimal dispatching method based on a modified flower pollination algorithm (MFPA) is proposed. Firstly, the active distribution network dispatching model considering the power quality (PQ) problem caused by BES and DG is proposed. In this model, the objective function considers the additional network loss caused by a harmonic wave, as well as the constraints of the harmonic wave and voltage unbalance. Then, the MFPA is an improvement of a flower pollination algorithm (FPA). Because the MFPA has the characteristics of higher solution accuracy and better convergence than the FPA and it is not easy to fall into local optimal, the MFPA is used to solve the proposed model. Finally, simulation experiments are carried out on IEEE 37 bus and IEEE 123 bus systems, respectively. The experimental results show that this method can achieve satisfactory power quality while optimizing the total active power loss of the branch. The comparative experimental results show that the developed algorithm has better convergence than the FPA.
The next issue of the Dictionary of folk stereotypes and symbols, published in Lublin under the editorship of Prof. E. Bartminski, is dedicated to the theme Flowers. Unlike many types of plants, whose cultural semantics "superimpose" on their practical significance in human life, flowers have an almost exclusively symbolic function – they serve as a decoration of the home space and a means of marking persons and objects that perform special ceremonial roles.
The rose flea beetle, RFB (Luperomorpha xanthodera Fairmaire 1888) is a new flower pest in Europe. In 2012, it was brought accidentally to central Poland. To search for this introduced species in the area adjacent to the site of the first finding, 29 plant species belonging to five botanical families (Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Asteraceae, Plantaginaceae, Crassulaceae) were monitored over a 3-year-long study (2016−2018). RFB were found on 11 herbaceous/ ornamental plant species (Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Asteraceae) along with feeding damage to the flowers. White mustard (Sinapis alba L., Brassicaceae), hyssop (L.), and Monarda spp. (Lamiaceae) were its most preferred host plants. In each season, RFB females preferred host plants which bloomed abundantly and vividly. However, among the examined plant species there was a large variation in the year-to-year RFB abundance. Over the examined period the RFB extended its abundance exponentially, and its population survived and established itself in the area. The general sex ratio of the beetles was strongly female biased. In the female pool, females with conspicuously swollen abdomens predominated. The results of our study provide more insight into RFB behaviour, its establishment and spreading into new areas. To support the evidence for the RFB risk factor as an agricultural/ horticultural pest, further research should focus on the beetles’ biology, reproductive tactics, larval host plant preference, larva-inflicted damage and harmfulness, the impact of the RFB on the native fauna, as well as its further local and distant migration propensity. Presently our knowledge about these aspects is still fragmentary.