Time factors in slowing down the rate of growth of demand for primary energy in the United States

The purpose of this report is to identify the time scales involved in slowing down the rate of growth of primary energy consumption in the U.S., as one component of an overall energy/environment strategy designed to limit the required volume of energy imports from overseas. Two important energy-consuming sectors of the economy are chosen as illustrative examples: (1) the "automobile" as a total system (25%); (2) space heating, air conditioning and water heating in the residential sector (22%). Efficient, light-weight vehicles are introduced into the automobile population by allocating an increasing percentage of new car production to such vehicles year by year until some fixed percentage is attained. Parametric calculations show that significant reductions in the annual rate of energy consumption by automobiles can be achieved if (a) the fuel consumption of efficient vehicles is 60% or less of "standard" vehicles; (b) the increment in percentage of new car production devoted to efficient vehicles is not less than 8% per year; (c) the efficient vehicles are "frozen" at not less than 80% or more of all new car production at the end of an eight to ten year period. In the residential sector the "turnover" rate is comparatively low, and the calculated reduction in annual energy growth rate produced by energy-conserving measures is modest, as expected, unless a "retrofit" rate of older living units of at least 2% per year can be attained. These two components of an energy-conserving policy taken together would bring the growth rate in U. S. primary energy demand down from its present rate of 4.2% per year to about 2.8% per year by 1985. Reductions in the annual growth rate of the remaining 50% of U.S. primary energy consumption that seem quite feasible would bring the overall growth rate down to about 2.5% per year by 1985. If reductions in growth rate of this magnitude could in fact be achieved, energy imports would peak in the mid-1980s at a level no higher than about 60% above the present (1973) volume of imports. Incentives and disincentives designed to bring about this slowdown in the rate of U. S. energy consumption are discussed briefly

Non-Fermi Liquid behavior at the Orbital Ordering Quantum Critical Point in the Two-Orbital Model

The critical behavior of a two-orbital model with degenerate $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals is investigated by multidimensional bosonization. We find that the corresponding bosonic theory has an overdamped collective mode with dynamical exponent $z=3$, which appears to be a general feature of a two-orbital model and becomes the dominant fluctuation in the vicinity of the orbital-ordering quantum critical point. Since the very existence of this $z=3$ overdamped collective mode induces non-Fermi liquid behavior near the quantum critical point, we conclude that a two-orbital model generally has a sizable area in the phase diagram showing non-Fermi liquid behavior. Furthermore, we show that the bosonic theory resembles the continuous model near the d-wave Pomeranchuk instability, suggesting that orbital order in a two-orbital model is identical to nematic order in a continuous model. Our results can be applied to systems with degenerate $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ orbitals such as iron-based superconductors and bilayer strontium ruthenates Sr$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Pomeranchuk Instability in a non-Fermi Liquid from Holography

The Pomeranchuk instability, in which an isotropic Fermi surface distorts and becomes anisotropic due to strong interactions, is a possible mechanism for the growing number of experimental systems which display transport properties that differ along the $x$ and $y$ axes. We show here that the gauge-gravity duality can be used to describe such an instability in fermionic systems. Our holographic model consists of fermions in a background which describes the causal propagation of a massive neutral spin-two field in an asymptotically AdS spacetime. The Fermi surfaces in the boundary theory distort spontaneously and become anisotropic once the neutral massive spin-two field develops a normalizable mode in the bulk. Analysis of the fermionic correlators reveals that the low-lying fermionic excitations are non-Fermi liquid-like both before and after the Fermi surface shape distortion. Further, the spectral weight along the Fermi surface is angularly dependent and can be made to vanish along certain directions.Comment: Updated version to appear in PRD. New version has WKB analysis of spectral intensity in ordered phas

The angular distribution of diffuse photosynthetically active radiation under different sky conditions in the open and within deciduous and conifer forest stands of Quebec and British Columbia, Canada

The angular distribution of diffuse photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was characterised in the open and beneath deciduous and conifer forests in Quebec and British Columbia, Canada, under overcast and clear sky conditions, using a restricted field of view light sensor and hemispherical canopy photographs. The angular distribution of PAR was described by the relative light reading (RLR). In the open on overcast days, light was best characterized using the standard overcast sky distribution with the light intensity at the zenith set to four to five times greater than the light intensity at the horizon. RLR under forest stands was found to decrease with decreasing elevation angles under both overcast and clear sky conditions. Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and Jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) stands transmitted more light from a relatively wider angle around the zenith than the spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss and Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands, which transmitted light mainly from the zenith. RLR estimated with the hemispherical canopy photographs (RLR hc_corr) generally provided a comparable prediction of the effect of the canopy composition on the angular distribution of PAR

SHARC: Space Habitat, Assembly and Repair Center

Integrated Space Systems (ISS) has taken on the task of designing a Space Habitat, Assembly and Repair Center (SHARC) in Low Earth Orbit to meet the future needs of the space program. Our goal is to meet the general requirements given by the 1991/1992 AIAA/LORAL Team Space Design competition with an emphasis on minimizing the costs of such a design. A baseline structural configuration along with preliminary designs of the major subsystems was created. Our initial mission requirements, which were set by AIAA, were that the facility be able to: support simultaneous assembly of three major vehicles; conduct assembly operations and minimal extra vehicular activity (EVA); maintain orbit indefinitely; and assemble components 30 feet long with a 10 foot diameter in a shirtsleeve environment

A Novel Root-Knot Nematode Resistance QTL on Chromosome Vu01 in Cowpea.

The root-knot nematode (RKN) species Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica cause substantial root system damage and suppress yield of susceptible cowpea cultivars. The narrow-based genetic resistance conferred by the Rk gene, present in some commercial cultivars, is not effective against Rk-virulent populations found in several cowpea production areas. The dynamics of virulence within RKN populations require a broadening of the genetic base of resistance in elite cowpea cultivars. As part of this goal, F1 and F2 populations from the cross CB46-Null (susceptible) x FN-2-9-04 (resistant) were phenotyped for M. javanica induced root-galling (RG) and egg-mass production (EM) in controlled growth chamber and greenhouse infection assays. In addition, F[Formula: see text] families of the same cross were phenotyped for RG on field sites infested with Rk-avirulent M. incognita and M. javanica The response of F1 to RG and EM indicated that resistance to RKN in FN-2-9-04 is partially dominant, as supported by the degree of dominance in the F2 and F[Formula: see text] populations. Two QTL associated with both RG and EM resistance were detected on chromosomes Vu01 and Vu04. The QTL on Vu01 was most effective against aggressive M. javanica, whereas both QTL were effective against avirulent M. incognita Allelism tests with CB46 x FN-2-9-04 progeny indicated that these parents share the same RKN resistance locus on Vu04, but the strong, broad-based resistance in FN-2-9-04 is conferred by the additive effect of the novel resistance QTL on Vu01. This novel resistance in FN-2-9-04 is an important resource for broadening RKN resistance in elite cowpea cultivars