Alleged Anachronisms in the Pentateuch

The history of Pentateuchal criticism shows that the importance of the postmosaica has long been widely recognized. On these alone Rabbi Aben Ezra based his doubts of the integrity of the Pentateuch. In the seventeenth century Peyrerius, Spinoza, and Hobbes again advanced only the postmosnica in their attacks on the Pentateuch, although we suspect that they were motivated ultimately by more sinister motives than a desire to find out the truth in these passages of Moses. Clericus goes a step farther and acknowledges the validity of two arguments against the Pentateuch, that of style, as well as the anachronisms. But even he is ready to concede: “Non ita solutu facilia sunt omnia arguments, quae ex variis locis· Pentateuchi ducuntur.” Carpzov likewise deals almost exclusively with the alleged anachronisms

The Knowledge and Use of the Bible in the Medieval Age

In attempting to show precisely to what extent the new learning pervaded the countries of Europe during the Middle Ages, and, specifically, just in how far the Bible was known among the clergy and laity, one must be careful to strive for the golden mean in interpreting a flood of literature which usually goes to one of two extremes. The first of these divergent opinions is the one mentioned above, that the Bible, as almost wholly unknown by the clergy and laity of the Middle Ages. And this would seem to be substantiated by no less an authority than Luther himself. There are several references in the Tischreden to the effect that the Holy Scripture was unknown to the people under the papacy in the later Medieval Age

Interactions between soil, horizontal heat exchangers and environment: the ITER Project outcomes

The thermal properties of soils can be considered one of the most important parameters for many engineering projects designing. In detail, the thermal conductivity plays a fundamental role when dimensioning ground heat exchangers, especially very shallow geothermal (VSG) systems, interesting the first 2 m of depth from the ground level. However, the determination of heat transfer in soils is difficult to estimate, because depends on several factors, including, among others, particle size, density, water content, mineralogy composition, ground temperature, organic matter. The performance of a VSG system, as horizontal collectors or special forms, is strongly correlated to the kind of sediment at disposal and suddenly decreases in case of dry-unsaturated conditions in the surrounding soil. Therefore, a better knowledge of the relationship between thermal conductivity and water content is required for understanding the VSG systems behavior in saturated and unsaturated conditions. The overall aim of ITER Project (Improving Thermal Efficiency of horizontal ground heat exchangers), funded by European Union, is to ensure the sustainability of VSG systems. To enhance the performance of horizontal geothermal heat exchangers, thermally enhanced backfilling material (TEBM) have been tested in laboratory and monitored on site. In the test field the interactions between different soil mixtures, helix collectors installed in horizontal trenches and the surrounding environment have been studied. Analysis of data collected over more than one year have been processed and used in numerical simulations in order to understand the short and long term environmental impact of these technical solution

Changes in physical-thermal properties of soil related to very shallow geothermal systems in urban areas

In the near future the population living in urban areas is expected to increase. This worldwide trend will lead to a high concentrations of infrastructures in confined areas, whose impact on land use and shallow subsurface must be well evaluated. Since shallow geothermal energy resource is becoming increasingly important as renewable energy resource, due to its huge potential in providing thermal energy for residential and tertiary buildings and in contributing to reduce greenhouse gas emission, the number of installed geothermal systems is expected to continue to rise in the near future. However, a leading question concerns the short and long-term effect of an intensive thermal use of the shallow subsurface for heat generation, cooling and thermal energy storage. From an environmental and technical point of view, changes on ground temperatures can influence the physical-thermal properties of soil and groundwater as well as their chemical and biological features. In this study the preliminary results of ITER Project are presented. This project, funded by European Union, focuses on improving heat transfer efficiency of very shallow geothermal systems, as horizontal collector systems or special forms (i.e. helix system), interesting the first 2 m of depth from ground level. Given the heterogeneity of sedimentary deposits in alluvial plain and the uncertainties related to the estimation of thermal parameters for unconsolidated material affected by thermal use, physical-thermal parameters (i.e. moisture content, bulk density, thermal conductivity...) where determined in laboratory for sand, clay and loamy sand samples. In addition, preliminary results from a field test site located within an urban area will be also shown. The main aim is to improve our knowledge of heat transfer process in the soil body in order (i) to create a reference database to compare subsequently the impact of temperature variations on the same properties and (ii) to provide reliable data for model parameterizatio

Systematical, experimental investigations on LiMgZ (Z= P, As, Sb) wide band gap semiconductors

This work reports on the experimental investigation of the wide band gap compounds LiMgZ (Z = P, As, Sb), which are promising candidates for opto-electronics and anode materials for Lithium batteries. The compounds crystallize in the cubic (C1_b) MgAgAs structure (space group F-43m). The polycrystalline samples were synthesized by solid state reaction methods. X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements show a homogeneous, single-phased samples. The electronic properties were studied using the direct current (DC) method. Additionally UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded in order to investigate the band gap nature. The measurements show that all compounds exhibit semiconducting behavior with direct band gaps of 1.0 eV to 2.3 eV depending on the Z element. A decrease of the peak widths in the static 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra with increasing temperature was observed, which can directly be related to an increase of Li ion mobility.Comment: 8 page

Laboratory Measurements of Gravel Thermal Conductivity: An Update Methodological Approach

Abstract Direct measurements of gravel thermal properties are usually quite challenging to be performed in laboratory, due to the very coarse sediments size. As a consequence, the reference thermal values provided by literature for gravels are quite limited and dispersed. A guarded hot plate Taurus Instruments TLP 800, usually used for measuring the thermal conductivity of buildings materials, was slightly modified in order to measure the thermal conductivity of some gravel samples. The tests were performed both in dry and wet conditions. The paper presents the first obtained results

Development of a Calculation Concept for Mapping Specific Heat Extraction for Very Shallow Geothermal Systems

Horizontal shallow geothermal applications are easy to install, and their installation process is less liable to legislation than other geothermal systems. Due to a lack of planning guidance, the opportunity to implement such systems is often overlooked, although geothermal installations are urgently needed as a sustainable energy source. To give a foundation for including very shallow geothermal systems in local heat supply planning, potential maps are crucial. To enable their utilization in energy use plans or similar elaborations for municipalities, location-specific and system-specific heat extractions are required. Since applicable standards are not available, it is nearly impossible to provide aggregate propositions, which are essential for potential maps. In this study, a concept was evolved for deriving very shallow geothermal potential maps with location-specific and system-specific heat extraction values. As a basis, VDI 4640 Part 2 information regarding heat extraction and respective climate zone references was utilized. Furthermore, climate information and a soil map were needed to apply the concept to the study area. The application of the concept in an Austrian study area resulted in appropriate potential maps. Moreover, this concept is similarly applicable in other areas of interest

A Case Study of Thermal Evolution in the Vicinity of Geothermal Probes Following a Distributed TRT Method

[EN] To meet the stated climate change targets and to ensure the capability of meeting the current and future energy demands, there is an urgent need to develop renewable energy sources, such as geothermal systems. If geothermal systems are to be cost-efficient and are to enjoy public confidence, it is essential that they are designed and installed in accordance with the prevailing site-specific conditions. A thorough understanding of the thermal behaviour of the surrounding ground is, therefore, critical. In this work, we investigated temperature and its evolution in the vicinity of a shallow geothermal helix-shaped borehole heat exchanger (BHE). To measure the temperature close to the actual geothermal system, an additional U-tube probe was installed at the edge of the same borehole. A thermal load was then applied to the BHE, and the temperature was detected in the nearby U-tube. The temperature measurements were made with a GEOSniff monitoring device. To understand these localised temperature measurements in the context of the Valencia test site, ERT measurements were also performed. The GEOSniff device permits measurements to be made with very high depth resolution, which allows the thermal properties of the surrounding ground to be derived precisely, thus, enabling the identification of the different textural domains.This research work has been supported financially by the European Cheap-GSHPs Project (funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 657982) and by the European GEO4CIVHIC Project (funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 792355).Schwarz, H.; Badenes Badenes, B.; Wagner, J.; Cuevas, JM.; Urchueguía Schölzel, JF.; Bertermann, D. (2021). A Case Study of Thermal Evolution in the Vicinity of Geothermal Probes Following a Distributed TRT Method. Energies. 14(9):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092632S11714