5,006 research outputs found

    Mapping the potential within a nanoscale undoped GaAs region using a scanning electron microscope

    Full text link
    Semiconductor dopant profiling using secondary electron imaging in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been developed in recent years. In this paper, we show that the mechanism behind it also allows mapping of the electric potential of undoped regions. By using an unbiased GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure, this article demonstrates the direct observation of the electrostatic potential variation inside a 90nm wide undoped GaAs channel surrounded by ionized dopants. The secondary electron emission intensities are compared with two-dimensional numerical solutions of the electric potential.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

    Comfort driven adaptive window opening behaviour and the influence of building design

    Get PDF
    It is important to understand and model the behaviour of occupants in buildings and how this behaviour impacts energy use and comfort. It is similarly important to understand how a buildings design affects occupant comfort, occupant behaviour and ultimately the energy used in the operation of the building. In this work a behavioural algorithm for window opening developed from field survey data has been implemented in a dynamic simulation tool. The algorithm is in alignment with the proposed CEN standard for adaptive thermal comfort. The algorithm is first compared to the field study data then used to illustrate the impact of adaptive behaviour on summer indoor temperatures and heating energy. The simulation model is also used to illustrate the sensitivity of the occupant adaptive behaviour to building design parameters such as solar shading and thermal mass and the resulting impact on energy use and comfort. The results are compared to those from other approaches to model window opening behaviour. The adaptive algorithm is shown to provide insights not available using non adaptive simulation methods and can assist in achieving more comfortable and lower energy buildings

    Development of an adaptive window-opening algorithm to predict the thermal comfort, energy use and overheating in buildings

    Get PDF
    This investigation of the window opening data from extensive field surveys in UK office buildings demonstrates: 1) how people control the indoor environment by opening windows; 2) the cooling potential of opening windows; and 3) the use of an ‘adaptive algorithm’ for predicting window opening behaviour for thermal simulation in ESP-r. It was found that when the window was open the mean indoor and outdoor temperatures were higher than when closed, but show that nonetheless there was a useful cooling effect from opening a window. The adaptive algorithm for window opening behaviour was then used in thermal simulation studies for some typical office designs. The thermal simulation results were in general agreement with the findings of the field surveys. The adaptive algorithm is shown to provide insights not available using non adaptive simulation methods and can assist in achieving more comfortable, lower energy buildings while avoiding overheating

    Considering the impact of situation-specific motivations and constraints in the design of naturally ventilated and hybrid buildings

    Get PDF
    A simple logical model of the interaction between a building and its occupants is presented based on the principle that if free to do so, people will adjust their posture, clothing or available building controls (windows, blinds, doors, fans, and thermostats) with the aim of achieving or restoring comfort and reducing discomfort. These adjustments are related to building design in two ways: first the freedom to adjust depends on the availability and ease-of-use of control options; second the use of controls affects building comfort and energy performance. Hence it is essential that these interactions are considered in the design process. The model captures occupant use of controls in response to thermal stimuli (too warm, too cold etc.) and non-thermal stimuli (e.g. desire for fresh air). The situation-specific motivations and constraints on control use are represented through trigger temperatures at which control actions occur, motivations are included as negative constraints and incorporated into a single constraint value describing the specifics of each situation. The values of constraints are quantified for a range of existing buildings in Europe and Pakistan. The integration of the model within a design flow is proposed and the impact of different levels of constraints demonstrated. It is proposed that to minimise energy use and maximise comfort in naturally ventilated and hybrid buildings the designer should take the following steps: 1. Provide unconstrained low energy adaptive control options where possible, 2. Avoid problems with indoor air quality which provide motivations for excessive ventilation rates, 3. Incorporate situation-specific adaptive behaviour of occupants in design simulations, 4. Analyse the robustness of designs against variations in patterns of use and climate, and 5. Incorporate appropriate comfort standards into the operational building controls (e.g. BEMS)

    A window opening algorithm and UK office temperature field results and thermal simulation

    Get PDF
    This investigation of the window opening data from extensive field surveys in UK office buildings investigates 1) how people control the indoor environment by opening windows, 2) the cooling potential of opening windows, and 3) the use of an “adaptive algorithm” for predicting window opening behaviour for thermal simulation in ESP-r. We found that the mean indoor and outdoor temperatures when the window was open were higher than when it was closed, but show that nonetheless there was a useful cooling effect from opening a window. The adaptive algorithm for window opening behaviour was then used in thermal simulation studies for some typical office designs. The thermal simulation results were in general agreement with the findings of the field surveys

    The thermal simulation of an office building implementing a new behavioural algorithm for window opening and the use of ceiling fans

    Get PDF
    This investigation of the window opening data from extensive field surveys in UK office buildings investigates 1) how people control the indoor environment by opening windows, 2) the cooling potential of opening windows, and 3) the use of an “adaptive algorithm” for predicting window opening behaviour for thermal simulation in ESP-r. We found that the mean indoor and outdoor temperatures when the window was open were higher than when it was closed, but show that nonetheless there was a useful cooling effect from opening a window. The adaptive algorithm for window opening behaviour was then used in thermal simulation studies for some typical office designs. The thermal simulation results were in general agreement with the findings of the field surveys

    Exactly solvable potentials of Calogero type for q-deformed Coxeter groups

    Get PDF
    We establish that by parameterizing the configuration space of a one-dimensional quantum system by polynomial invariants of q-deformed Coxeter groups it is possible to construct exactly solvable models of Calogero type. We adopt the previously introduced notion of solvability which consists of relating the Hamiltonian to finite dimensional representation spaces of a Lie algebra. We present explicitly the G2qG_2^q -case for which we construct the potentials by means of suitable gauge transformations.Comment: 22 pages Late

    Quantifying and Maximising the Benefits of Crops After Rice

    Get PDF
    At the time this project was conceived, rising watertables and subsequent salinisation were considered to be the major threats to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the rice growing areas of southern NSW. The biggest threat to sustainability at present is the reduced availability and higher cost of water as a result of the water reforms, and more recently prolonged drought. The hypothesis of this project was that growing crops immediately after rice would increase water use efficiency and profitability of rice-based cropping systems while reducing net recharge. Field experiments were conducted from 1998 to 2000 on two soil types to evaluate the effect of non-irrigated wheat after rice on watertables and net recharge. Rainfall during the wheat season was reasonably similar in all 3 years (270-318 mm) and higher than average (220 mm). Yield and biomass production of early sown (24 April) wheat were higher than yield of late wheat (29 June) (grain yield 4.7 vs 3.8 t/ha at 12% moisture). In the absence of irrigation, the soil profile remained wet in fallow areas, whereas there was considerable drying in areas planted to wheat. The drying created capacity in the soil profile to capture and use winter rainfall. There was a general increase in depth to the watertable during the first half of the season where non-irrigated wheat was grown after rice, but not in the fallow areas. However, in all situations, the watertable rose around the time of rice sowing each year due to a rise in the regional groundwater level. The lumped water balance studies suggested net discharge of about 1 ML/ha between the time of sowing and harvesting wheat after rice in each of the three years, mostly due to higher upflow due to crop water use. In the fallow, net discharge/recharge was close to zero. The CERES Wheat and SWAGMANÂź Destiny models performed very well in simulating a wide range of crop and soil water parameters, although the validation data sets were limited in that the yield range was smaller than desirable. Consistent with the field studies, yield of nonirrigated early sown wheat (median 3.8 t/ha) was usually much higher than yield of late sown wheat (median 1.8 t/ha). With one or two irrigations yields of both early and late sown wheat almost always increased, by around 1 t/ha with one irrigation at heading, and an additional 0.5 t/ha with a second irrigation during grain filling. It was only with frequent irrigation (whenever cumulative ETo-rain since the previous irrigation reached 60 mm) that yields of late sown wheat matched (or surpassed) yields of early sown wheat. However, the irrigation requirement for late wheat irrigated at ETo-rain 60 mm was almost always much higher than for early wheat with the same irrigation management (by >100 mm in most years). While irrigation increased yield, it also increased net recharge, with final watertables generally higher by 0.5 to 0.8 m for wheat after rice (wet initial soil) with irrigation at ETo-rain 60 mm compared with no irrigation. The model simulations showed that with wheat after rice, there was net discharge in almost all years, regardless of initial watertable depth (0.5-1.5 m). In comparison, net recharge occurred in 18 to 48% of years with fallow after rice, the amount of recharge increase as initial depth to the watertable increased. For non-irrigated wheat after rice, salinity of the watertable was 2 important where the watertable was shallow (0.5 m), with yield reductions in excess of 1 t/ha in most years. However for deeper watertables, there was no effect of watertable salinity for non-irrigated wheat. With irrigation, watertable salinity had no impact on yields. Growing wheat immediately after rice was financially beneficial, with an increase in Net Present Value (NPV) ranging from 31 to 126 /ha/yrdependingontherotation.Assumingthattherateofadoptionisdoubledover20yearsasaresultoftheproject,theNPVofbenefitswasestimatedtobe/ha/yr depending on the rotation. Assuming that the rate of adoption is doubled over 20 years as a result of the project, the NPV of benefits was estimated to be 5.6 million compared with costs of $1.1 million, resulting in a benefit cost ratio of 5.3

    Quantifying and Maximising the Benefits of Crops After Rice

    Get PDF
    At the time this project was conceived, rising watertables and subsequent salinisation were considered to be the major threats to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the rice growing areas of southern NSW. The biggest threat to sustainability at present is the reduced availability and higher cost of water as a result of the water reforms, and more recently prolonged drought. The hypothesis of this project was that growing crops immediately after rice would increase water use efficiency and profitability of rice-based cropping systems while reducing net recharge. Field experiments were conducted from 1998 to 2000 on two soil types to evaluate the effect of non-irrigated wheat after rice on watertables and net recharge. Rainfall during the wheat season was reasonably similar in all 3 years (270-318 mm) and higher than average (220 mm). Yield and biomass production of early sown (24 April) wheat were higher than yield of late wheat (29 June) (grain yield 4.7 vs 3.8 t/ha at 12% moisture). In the absence of irrigation, the soil profile remained wet in fallow areas, whereas there was considerable drying in areas planted to wheat. The drying created capacity in the soil profile to capture and use winter rainfall. There was a general increase in depth to the watertable during the first half of the season where non-irrigated wheat was grown after rice, but not in the fallow areas. However, in all situations, the watertable rose around the time of rice sowing each year due to a rise in the regional groundwater level. The lumped water balance studies suggested net discharge of about 1 ML/ha between the time of sowing and harvesting wheat after rice in each of the three years, mostly due to higher upflow due to crop water use. In the fallow, net discharge/recharge was close to zero. The CERES Wheat and SWAGMANÂź Destiny models performed very well in simulating a wide range of crop and soil water parameters, although the validation data sets were limited in that the yield range was smaller than desirable. Consistent with the field studies, yield of nonirrigated early sown wheat (median 3.8 t/ha) was usually much higher than yield of late sown wheat (median 1.8 t/ha). With one or two irrigations yields of both early and late sown wheat almost always increased, by around 1 t/ha with one irrigation at heading, and an additional 0.5 t/ha with a second irrigation during grain filling. It was only with frequent irrigation (whenever cumulative ETo-rain since the previous irrigation reached 60 mm) that yields of late sown wheat matched (or surpassed) yields of early sown wheat. However, the irrigation requirement for late wheat irrigated at ETo-rain 60 mm was almost always much higher than for early wheat with the same irrigation management (by >100 mm in most years). While irrigation increased yield, it also increased net recharge, with final watertables generally higher by 0.5 to 0.8 m for wheat after rice (wet initial soil) with irrigation at ETo-rain 60 mm compared with no irrigation. The model simulations showed that with wheat after rice, there was net discharge in almost all years, regardless of initial watertable depth (0.5-1.5 m). In comparison, net recharge occurred in 18 to 48% of years with fallow after rice, the amount of recharge increase as initial depth to the watertable increased. For non-irrigated wheat after rice, salinity of the watertable was 2 important where the watertable was shallow (0.5 m), with yield reductions in excess of 1 t/ha in most years. However for deeper watertables, there was no effect of watertable salinity for non-irrigated wheat. With irrigation, watertable salinity had no impact on yields. Growing wheat immediately after rice was financially beneficial, with an increase in Net Present Value (NPV) ranging from 31 to 126 /ha/yrdependingontherotation.Assumingthattherateofadoptionisdoubledover20yearsasaresultoftheproject,theNPVofbenefitswasestimatedtobe/ha/yr depending on the rotation. Assuming that the rate of adoption is doubled over 20 years as a result of the project, the NPV of benefits was estimated to be 5.6 million compared with costs of $1.1 million, resulting in a benefit cost ratio of 5.3
    • 

    corecore