Wind power development : economics and policies

This study reviews the prospects of wind power at the global level. Existing studies indicate that the earth's wind energy supply potential significantly exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 1 percent of the global electricity demand is currently derived from wind power despite 40 percent annual growth in wind generating capacity over the past 25 years. More than 98 percent of total current wind power capacity is installed in the developed countries plus China and India. It has been estimated that wind power could supply 7 to 34 percent of global electricity needs by 2050. However, wind power faces a large number of technical, economic, financial, institutional, market, and other barriers. To overcome these barriers, many countries have employed various policy instruments, including capital subsidies, tax incentives, tradable energy certificates, feed-in tariffs, grid access guarantees and mandatory standards. Besides these policies, climate change mitigation initiatives resulting from the Kyoto Protocol (e.g., CO2-emission reduction targets in developed countries and the Clean Development Mechanism in developing countries) have played a significant role in promoting wind power.Energy Production and Transportation,Carbon Policy and Trading,Windpower,Environment and Energy Efficiency,Energy and Environment

A lab-on-a-chip for the concurrent electrochemical detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in saliva and plasma

Rapid, accurate and frequent detection of the RNA of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and of serological host antibodies to the virus would facilitate the determination of the immune status of individuals who have Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), were previously infected by the virus, or were vaccinated against the disease. Here we describe the development and application of a 3D-printed lab-on-a-chip that concurrently detects, via multiplexed electrochemical outputs and within 2 h, SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva as well as anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulins in saliva spiked with blood plasma. The device automatedly extracts, concentrates and amplifies SARS-CoV-2 RNA from unprocessed saliva, and integrates the Cas12a-based enzymatic detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA via isothermal nucleic acid amplification with a sandwich-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on electrodes functionalized with the Spike S1, nucleocapsid and receptor-binding-domain antigens of SARS-CoV-2. Inexpensive microfluidic electrochemical sensors for performing multiplexed diagnostics at the point of care may facilitate the widespread monitoring of COVID-19 infection and immunity

Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity p plus Au collisions at root S-NN=200 GeV

We present measurements of long-range angular correlations and the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow v(2) in high-multiplicity p + Au collisions at root S-NN = 200 GeV. A comparison of these results to previous measurements in high-multiplicity d + Au and He-3+Au collisions demonstrates a relation between v(2) and the initial collision eccentricity epsilon(2), suggesting that the observed momentum-space azimuthal anisotropies in these small systems have a collective origin and reflect the initial geometry. Good agreement is observed between the measured v(2) and hydrodynamic calculations for all systems, and an argument disfavoring theoretical explanations based on initial momentum-space domain correlations is presented. The set of measurements presented here allows us to leverage the distinct intrinsic geometry of each of these systems to distinguish between different theoretical descriptions of the long-range correlations observed in small collision systems

Measurement of the relative yields of psi(2S) to psi(1S) mesons produced at forward and backward rapidity in p plus p, p plus Al, p + Au, and He-3+Au collisions at root S-NN=200 GeV

The PHENIX Collaboration has measured the ratio of the yields of psi(2S) to psi(1S) mesons produced in p + p, p + Al, p + Au, and He-3+Au collisions at root S-NN = 200 GeV over the forward and backward rapidity intervals 1.2 \u3c | y | \u3c 2.2. We find that the ratio in p + p collisions is consistent with measurements at other collision energies. In collisions with nuclei, we find that in the forward (p-going or He-3-going) direction, the relative yield of psi(2S) mesons to psi(1S) mesons is consistent with the value measured in p + p collisions. However, in the backward (nucleus-going) direction, the psi(2S) meson is preferentially suppressed by a factor of similar to 2. This suppression is attributed in some models to the breakup of the weakly bound psi(2S) meson through final-state interactions with comoving particles, which have a higher density in the nucleus-going direction. These breakup effects may compete with color screening in a deconfined quark-gluon plasma to produce sequential suppression of excited quarkonia states

Nonperturbative-transverse-momentum broadening in dihadron angular correlations in √sNN = 200 GeV proton-nucleus collisions

The PHENIX collaboration has measured high-pT dihadron correlations in p+p, p+Al, and p+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV. The correlations arise from inter- and intrajet correlations and thus have sensitivity to nonperturbative effects in both the initial and final states. The distributions of pout, the transverse-momentum component of the associated hadron perpendicular to the trigger hadron, are sensitive to initial- and final-state transverse momenta. These distributions are measured multidifferentially as a function of xE, the longitudinal momentum fraction of the associated hadron with respect to the trigger hadron. The near-side pout widths, sensitive to fragmentation transverse momentum, show no significant broadening between p+Au, p+Al, and p+p. The away-side nonperturbative pout widths are found to be broadened in p+Au when compared to p+p; however, there is no significant broadening in p+Al compared to p+p collisions. The data also suggest that the away-side pout broadening is a function of Ncoll, the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, in the interaction. The potential implications of these results with regard to initial- and final-state transverse-momentum broadening and energy loss of partons in a nucleus, among other nuclear effects, are discussed

Correlations of μμ, eμ, and ee pairs in p+p collisions at s√=200 GeV and implications for cc¯ and bb¯ production mechanisms

PHENIX has measured the azimuthal correlations of muon pairs from charm and bottom semi-leptonic decays in p+p collisions at s√=200 GeV, using a novel analysis technique utilizing both unlike- and like-sign muon pairs to separate charm, bottom and Drell-Yan contributions. The dimuon measurements combined with the previous electron-muon and dielectron measurements span a wide range in rapidity, and are well described by PYTHIA Tune A. Through a Bayesian analysis based on PYTHIA Tune A, we show that leading order pair creation is the dominant (76%±1419%) contribution for bb¯ production, whereas the data favor the scenario in which next-to-leading-order processes dominate cc¯ production. The small contribution of next-to-leading-order processes in bb¯ production at the collision energies of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider contrasts with the case at Large-Hadron-Collider energies, where next-to-leading-order processes are expected to dominate