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This study presents a low-cost thyristor-controlled LC compensator scheme for the improvement of overall power quality in the distribution system. The parameters of the compensator have been designed and optimal triggering angles for thyristor switching have been obtained for reducing the unbalanced condition and harmonic injection at a high power factor. Compared to the traditional static VAr compensator schemes, the proposed technique can significantly reduce the harmonic injection into the system. The particle swarm optimization technique has been applied to compute the optimal triggering angles, and different aspects of the power quality factor have been assessed through rigorous simulations. Power quality assessment has been further validated through an experimental setup in the laboratory. Finally, a comparison of the proposed scheme with other similar schemes has been carried out to highlight its efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we revisit the much-studied behavior of self-assembled aggregates of gold colloidal particles. In the literature, the electrostatic interactions, van der Waals interactions, and the change in free energy due to ligand-ligand or ligand-solvent interactions are mainly considered to be the dominating factors in determining the characteristics of the gold aggregates. However, our light scattering and imaging experiments clearly indicate a distinct effect of light in the growth structure of the gold colloidal particles. We attribute this to the effect of a non-uniform distribution of the electric field in aggregated gold colloids under the influence of light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]