Impact of Balance Of System (BOS) costs on photovoltaic power systems

The Department of Energy has developed a program to effect a large reduction in the price of photovoltaic modules, with significant progress already achieved toward the 1986 goal of 50 cents/watt (1975 dollars). Remaining elements of a P/V power system (structure, battery storage, regulation, control, and wiring) are also significant cost items. The costs of these remaining elements are commonly referred to as Balance-of-System (BOS) costs. The BOS costs are less well defined and documented than module costs. The Lewis Research Center (LeRC) in 1976/77 and with two village power experiments that will be installed in 1978. The costs were divided into five categories and analyzed. A regression analysis was performed to determine correlations of BOS Costs per peak watt, with power size for these photovoltaic systems. The statistical relationship may be used for flat-plate, DC systems ranging from 100 to 4,000 peak watts. A survey of suppliers was conducted for comparison with the predicted BOS cost relationship

Assessing depression in older adults in the emergency department: Reliability of the 5-item Geriatric Depression Scale

Abstract presented at the IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing, 28 May-1 June 2012, Prague, Czech Republi

Posterior Cervical Spine Crisscross Fixation: Biomechanical Evaluation

Background Biomechanical/anatomic limitations may limit the successful implantation, maintenance, and risk acceptance of posterior cervical plate/rod fixation for one stage decompression-fusion. A method of posterior fixation (crisscross) that resolves biomechanical deficiencies of previous facet wiring techniques and not reliant upon screw implantation has been devised. The biomechanical performance of the new method of facet fixation was compared to the traditional lateral mass plate/screw fixation method. Methods Thirteen human cadaver spine segments (C2-T1) were tested under flexion-compression loading and four were evaluated additionally under pure-moment load. Preparations were evaluated in a sequence of surgical alterations with intact, laminectomy, lateral mass plate/screw fixation, and crisscross facet fixation using forces, displacements and kinematics. Findings Combined loading demonstrated significantly lower bending stiffness (p \u3c 0.05) between laminectomy compared to crisscross and lateral mass plate/screw preparations. Crisscross fixation showed a comparative tendency for increased stiffness. The increased overall motion induced by laminectomy was resolved by both fixation techniques, with crisscross fixation demonstrating a comparatively more uniform change in segmental motions. Interpretation The crisscross technique of facet fixation offers immediate mechanical stability with resolution of increased flexural rotations induced by multi-level laminectomy. Many of the anatomic limitations and potentially deleterious variables that may be associated with multi-level screw fixation are not associated with facet wire passage, and the subsequent fixation using a pattern of wire connection crossing each facet joint exhibits a comparatively more uniform load distribution. Crisscross wire fixation is a valuable addition to the surgical armamentarium for extensive posterior cervical single-stage decompression-fixation

Survey of the Herbarium Resources of Ohio

Author Institution: Department of Natural Areas and Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Fountain Square ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of CincinnatiMore than one million specimens of vascular and nonvascular plants are housed in Ohio herbaria. These collections are an invaluable scientific resource. Only 13 Ohio herbaria are listed in the Index Herbariorum. This survey identifies 37 Ohio herbaria and summarizes their holdings. Details given for these herbaria include: names and addresses of curators, hours of access, strengths of the collections, and research activities of the staff

New Records of Alien Species in the Ohio Vascular Flora

Author Institution: Department of Botany, Miami University ; Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural ResourcesExamination of specimens of vascular plants from various herbaria, as well as field collections, have revealed 70 taxa not previously reported for Ohio, or previously reported without documentation. This paper documents these new taxa, 44% of which are escapes of woody landscape plants. The specimens cited represent 55 genera in 30 families. Of these, the following genera are first reports for the state: Achyranthes, Albizia, Carthamus, Cercidiphyllum, Cotoneaster, Dactyloctenium, Fontanesia, Gaillardia, Guizotia, Gypsophila, Stenosiphon, Tripsacum, and Zinnia. Cercidiphyllaceae is the only family reported as new for the state. Some taxa cited in this paper represent first reports as escapes for North America. These are Cotoneaster divaricatus (Rosaceae), Fontanesia fortunei (Oleaceae), Magnolia X soulangeana (Magnoliaceae), Magnolia stellata (Magnoliaceae), Viburnum buddleifolium (Caprifoliaceae), and Viburnum x rhytidiphylloides (Caprifoliaceae)

Photovoltaic water pumping applications: Assessment of the near-term market

Water pumping applications represent a potential market for photovoltaics. The price of energy for photovoltaic systems was compared to that of utility line extensions and diesel generators. The potential domestic demand was defined in the government, commercial/institutional and public sectors. The foreign demand and sources of funding for water pumping systems in the developing countries were also discussed briefly. It was concluded that a near term domestic market of at least 240 megawatts and a foreign market of about 6 gigawatts exist

Study of Dairy Manure N Cycling in Soil-Plant Continuum Using \u3csup\u3e15\u3c/sup\u3eN and Other Methods

Ruminant livestock manure impacts on N cycling in the soil-plant continuum. Most studies of manure N cycling are short-term and rely on indirect methods, i.e. apparent N recovery, fertiliser N equivalents or incorporate 15N into ammonium-N fractions. Direct and perhaps more precise measurements may be achieved by long-term studies using 15N incorporated into all manure N components. This paper summarises results of a 6- year trial to compare indirect and direct measures of manure N uptake by corn for 3 years after application

A complete characterization of plateaued Boolean functions in terms of their Cayley graphs

In this paper we find a complete characterization of plateaued Boolean functions in terms of the associated Cayley graphs. Precisely, we show that a Boolean function $f$ is $s$-plateaued (of weight $=2^{(n+s-2)/2}$) if and only if the associated Cayley graph is a complete bipartite graph between the support of $f$ and its complement (hence the graph is strongly regular of parameters $e=0,d=2^{(n+s-2)/2}$). Moreover, a Boolean function $f$ is $s$-plateaued (of weight $\neq 2^{(n+s-2)/2}$) if and only if the associated Cayley graph is strongly $3$-walk-regular (and also strongly $\ell$-walk-regular, for all odd $\ell\geq 3$) with some explicitly given parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of Africacrypt 201