Characterization of woodstove briquettes from torrefied biomass and coal

peer-reviewedUsing waste biomass materials offers the potential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Torrefaction is very useful for improving the fuel properties of biomass in order to better match those of coal. The aim of this work is to compare the properties of torrefied low quality biomass briquettes against coal equivalents. The composition of the briquettes was characterized by 13C CP/MAS, proximate analysis, and X-ray diffraction and the results were compared with equilibrium calculations. In addition to these techniques, we report for the first time on the use of XμCT for characterizing such materials. The XμCT analysis showed that the briquette structure contains carbon, binder and inorganic matter, with quartz retained from the original feedstock in torrefied biomass and coal briquettes. The CO2 reactivity of pulverized briquettes was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis. Results showed that the inorganic matter influences the reactivity less than the organic composition and porosity. Importantly from a technological standpoint, the increase in binder concentration and replacement of starch with resin binder did not influence the reactivity and calorific value of a pulverized briquette

Exclusive processes in position space and the pion distribution amplitude

We suggest to carry out lattice calculations of current correlators in position space, sandwiched between the vacuum and a hadron state (e.g. pion), in order to access hadronic light-cone distribution amplitudes (DAs). In this way the renormalization problem for composite lattice operators is avoided altogether, and the connection to the DA is done using perturbation theory in the continuum. As an example, the correlation function of two electromagnetic currents is calculated to the next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in perturbation theory and including the twist-4 corrections. We argue that this strategy is fully competitive with direct lattice measurements of the moments of the DA, defined as matrix elements of local operators, and offers new insight in the space-time picture of hard exclusive reactions.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

A river model of space

Within the theory of general relativity gravitational phenomena are usually attributed to the curvature of four-dimensional spacetime. In this context we are often confronted with the question of how the concept of ordinary physical three-dimensional space fits into this picture. In this work we present a simple and intuitive model of space for both the Schwarzschild spacetime and the de Sitter spacetime in which physical space is defined as a specified set of freely moving reference particles. Using a combination of orthonormal basis fields and the usual formalism in a coordinate basis we calculate the physical velocity field of these reference particles. Thus we obtain a vivid description of space in which space behaves like a river flowing radially toward the singularity in the Schwarzschild spacetime and radially toward infinity in the de Sitter spacetime. We also consider the effect of the river of space upon light rays and material particles and show that the river model of space provides an intuitive explanation for the behavior of light and particles at and beyond the event horizons associated with these spacetimes.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Frequency dependence of magnetothermal properties for magnetic fluid and magnetically functionalized implants

Heating of the magnetic nanoparticles in AC magnetic field is the effect promising for application in medicine. The mechanisms of heating in AC-magnetic field implies nontrivial dependence of the power dissipated by magnetic nanoparticles on frequency. With the use of a reconfigurable experimental setup, this frequency-dependent magnetic heating was measured on two characteristic examples: the magnetite nanoparticles conventionally used in medicine and polymer coating with micrometer sized magnetite particles. The saturation of the heating power with frequency is shown that is more pronounced for the second case of microparticles

Sum rules and dualities for generalized parton distributions: is there a holographic principle?

To leading order approximation, the physical content of generalized parton distributions (GPDs) that is accessible in deep virtual electroproduction of photons or mesons is contained in their value on the cross-over trajectory. This trajectory separates the t-channel and s-channel dominated GPD regions. The underlying Lorentz covariance implies correspondence between these two regions through their relation to GPDs on the cross-over trajectory. This point of view leads to a family of GPD sum rules which are a quark analogue of finite energy sum rules and it guides us to a new phenomenological GPD concept. As an example, we discuss the constraints from the JLab/Hall A data on the dominant u-quark GPD H. The question arises whether GPDs are governed by some kind of holographic principle.Comment: 45 pages, 4 figures, Sect. 2 reorganized for clarity. Typos in Eq. (20) corrected. 4 new refs. Matches published versio

Gravity and Electromagnetism with Y(R)F2Y(R)F^2-type Coupling and Magnetic Monopole Solutions

We investigate $Y(R) F^2$-type coupling of electromagnetic fields to gravity. After we derive field equations by a first order variational principle from the Lagrangian formulation of the non-minimally coupled theory, we look for static, spherically symmetric, magnetic monopole solutions. We point out that the solutions can provide possible geometries which may explain the flatness of the observed rotation curves of galaxies.Comment: 10 page

The Challenges of Creativity in Software Organizations

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceManaging creativity has proven to be one of the most important drivers in software development and use. The continuous changing market environment drives companies like Google, SAS Institute and LEGO to focus on creativity as an increasing necessity when competing through sustained innovations. However, creativity in the information systems (IS) environment is a challenge for most organizations that is primarily caused by not knowing how to strategize creative processes in relation to IS strategies, thus, causing companies to act ad hoc in their creative endeavors. In this paper, we address the organizational challenges of creativity in software organizations. Grounded in a previous literature review and a rigorous selection process, we identify and present a model of seven important factors for creativity in software organizations. From these factors, we identify 21 challenges that software organizations experience when embarking on creative endeavors and transfer them into a comprehensive framework. Using an interpretive research study, we further study the framework by analyzing how the challenges are integrated in 27 software organizations. Practitioners can use this study to gain a deeper understanding of creativity in their own business while researchers can use the framework to gain insight while conducting interpretive field studies of managing creativity

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012