Distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) is one of the most important methods to cope with the increasing electricity demand due to the massive integration of electric vehicles. Most existing DNR methods rely on accurate network parameters and lack scalability and optimality. This study uses model-free reinforcement learning algorithms for training agents to take the best DNR actions in a given distribution system. Five reinforcement algorithms are applied to the DNR problem in 33- and 136-node test systems and their performances are compared: deep Q-learning, dueling deep Q-learning, deep Q-learning with prioritized experience replay, soft actor-critic, and proximal policy optimization. In addition, a new deep Q-learning-based action sampling method is developed to reduce the size of the action space and optimize the loss reduction in the system. Finally, the developed algorithms are compared against the existing methods in literature.

Microwave sensors are principally sensitive to effective permittivity, and hence not selective to a specific material under test (MUT). In this work, a highly compact microwave planar sensor based on zeroth-order resonance is designed to operate at three distant frequencies of 3.5, 4.3, and 5 GHz, with the size of only ${\lambda }_{g-min}/8$ per resonator. This resonator is deployed to characterize liquid mixtures with one desired MUT (here water) combined with an interfering material (e.g., methanol, ethanol, or acetone) with various concentrations (0%:10%:100%). To achieve a sensor with selectivity to water, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to recognize different concentrations of water regardless of the host medium. To obtain a high accuracy of this classification, Style-GAN is utilized to generate a reliable sensor response for concentrations between water and the host medium (methanol, ethanol, and acetone). A high accuracy of 90.7% is achieved using CNN for selectively discriminating water concentrations.

In recent years, machine learning methods have found numerous applications in power systems for load forecasting, voltage control, power quality monitoring, anomaly detection, etc. Distributed learning is a subfield of machine learning and a descendant of the multi-agent systems field. Distributed learning is a collaboratively decentralized machine learning algorithm designed to handle large data sizes, solve complex learning problems, and increase privacy. Moreover, it can reduce the risk of a single point of failure compared to fully centralized approaches and lower the bandwidth and central storage requirements. This paper introduces three existing distributed learning frameworks and reviews the applications that have been proposed for them in power systems so far. It summarizes the methods, benefits, and challenges of distributed learning frameworks in power systems and identifies the gaps in the literature for future studies.