Mapping solar array location, size, and capacity using deep learning and overhead imagery

The effective integration of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays into existing power grids will require access to high quality data; the location, power capacity, and energy generation of individual solar PV installations. Unfortunately, existing methods for obtaining this data are limited in their spatial resolution and completeness. We propose a general framework for accurately and cheaply mapping individual PV arrays, and their capacities, over large geographic areas. At the core of this approach is a deep learning algorithm called SolarMapper - which we make publicly available - that can automatically map PV arrays in high resolution overhead imagery. We estimate the performance of SolarMapper on a large dataset of overhead imagery across three US cities in California. We also describe a procedure for deploying SolarMapper to new geographic regions, so that it can be utilized by others. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed deployment procedure by using it to map solar arrays across the entire US state of Connecticut (CT). Using these results, we demonstrate that we achieve highly accurate estimates of total installed PV capacity within each of CT's 168 municipal regions

Fuzzy-Logical model for analysis of sustainable development of fuel and energy complex enterprises

The purpose of this article is to build a mathematical model for analyzing the sustainability of the development of an enterprise in the fuel and energy complex, integrated into an information management system. It is noted that one of the strategic dominants in achieving the national goal of accelerating the technological development of any country is to ensure the effective functioning of enterprises in the fuel and energy complex. It is substantiated that these enterprises represent the basis of the material life of society, thus, ensuring their sustainable development is a significant factor for the formation of the structure of sectoral and inter-sectoral industrial complexes. In order to analyze the sustainable development of enterprises, an integral indicator is proposed, the components of which are the vectors of production, organizational, economic, environmental and social characteristics. Due to the weak structure of some characteristics, to solve the problem of their synthesis with quantitatively defined indicators, it is proposed to use the mathematical apparatus of fuzzy logic. Weakly structured indicators are formally described by linguistic variables. To establish the dependence of the integral indicator of sustainable development on production, organizational, economic, environmental and social indicators, a fuzzy-logical model has been built, which makes it possible to use the knowledge of experts by constructing rules of fuzzy inference. The fuzzy logic model is implemented using MATLAB tools. On the constructed model, experiments were carried out to assess the impact of each of the local indicators of sustainable development of an enterprise on the integral indicator. The advantage of the constructed model is its adaptability to changes in the operating conditions of enterprises

Old puzzle of incommensurate crystal structure of calaverite AuTe2 and predicted stability of novel AuTe compound

Gold is a very inert element, which forms relatively few compounds. Among them is a unique material-mineral calaverite, AuTe2. Besides being the only compound in nature from which one can extract gold on an industrial scale, it is a rare example of a natural mineral with incommensurate crystal structure. Moreover, it is one of few systems based on Au, which become superconducting (at elevated pressure or doped by Pd and Pt). Using ab initio calculations we theoretically explain these unusual phenomena in the picture of negative charge-transfer energy and self-doping, with holes being largely in the Te 5p bands. This scenario naturally explains incommensurate crystal structure of AuTe2, and it also suggests a possible mechanism of superconductivity. An ab initio evolutionary search for stable compounds in the Au-Te system confirms stability of AuTe2 and AuTe3 and leads to a prediction of an as yet unknown stable compound AuTe, which until now has not been synthesized

Magnetic properties of poly(p-xylylene)-Ni nanocomposites

The dependence of electrical and magnetic properties on structure of thin poly(p-xylylene) - nickel nanocomposite films with Ni concentrations from 5 to 30 vol.% was studied. It was found that metal concentration strongly affects size and oxidation state of the nanoparticles. Effect of the filler content on electrical and magnetic properties of the nanocomposites was revealed. These properties are determined by percolation phenomenon, with the percolation threshold value of about 10 vol.%. The well pronounced magnetic hysteresis as well as ferromagnetic ordering were observed at Ni content above the percolation threshold. The diagrams of magnetic properties of these composites as a function of composition and temperature were elaborated

Magnetic properties of poly(p-xylylene)-Ni nanocomposites

The dependence of electrical and magnetic properties on structure of thin poly(p-xylylene) - nickel nanocomposite films with Ni concentrations from 5 to 30 vol.% was studied. It was found that metal concentration strongly affects size and oxidation state of the nanoparticles. Effect of the filler content on electrical and magnetic properties of the nanocomposites was revealed. These properties are determined by percolation phenomenon, with the percolation threshold value of about 10 vol.%. The well pronounced magnetic hysteresis as well as ferromagnetic ordering were observed at Ni content above the percolation threshold. The diagrams of magnetic properties of these composites as a function of composition and temperature were elaborated

Effect of Composition and Molecular Structure of Poly( l -lactic acid)/Poly(ethylene oxide) Block Copolymers on Micellar Morphology in Aqueous Solution

The effect of the hydrophobic block length in diblock (PLLA$_x$-b-PEO$_{113}$, x = 64, 166, 418) and triblock (PLLA$_y$-b-PEO$_{91}$-b-PLLA$_y$, y = 30, 52, 120) copolymers of l-lactic acid and ethylene oxide on the structure of micelles prepared by dialysis was studied by wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering in dilute aqueous solution, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and force spectroscopy. It was found that the size of the crystalline PLLA core is weakly dependent on the PLLA block length. In addition to individual micelles, a number of their micellar clusters were detected with characteristic distance between adjacent micelle cores decreasing with an increase in PLLA block length. This effect was explained by the change in the conformation of PEO chains forming the micellar corona because of their overcrowding. Force spectroscopy experiments also reveal a more stretched conformation of the PEO chains for the block copolymers with a shorter PLLA block. A model describing the structure of the individual micelles and their clusters was proposed

Reinvestigation of KMg1/3Nb2/3OPO4Dedicated to Professor Nikolay S. Slobodyanik on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

The crystal structure of potassium magnesium niobium oxide phosphate, KMg1/3Nb2/3OPO4, which was described in the space group P4322 [McCarron & Calabrese, (1993). J. Solid State Chem. 102, 354–361], has been redetermined in the revised space group P41. Accordingly, the assignment of the space group P4322 and, therefore, localization of K at a single half-occupied position, as noted in the previous study, proved to be an artifact. As a consequence, two major and two minor positions of K are observed due to the splitting along [001], as first noted for KTiOPO4 structure analogues. It has been shown that the geometry of the {MII1/3Nb2/3O6/2}∞ framework is almost unaffected by the lowering of symmetry