Study of component technologies for fuel cell on-site integrated energy system. Volume 2: Appendices

This data base catalogue was compiled in order to facilitate the analysis of various on site integrated energy system with fuel cell power plants. The catalogue is divided into two sections. The first characterizes individual components in terms of their performance profiles as a function of design parameters. The second characterizes total heating and cooling systems in terms of energy output as a function of input and control variables. The integrated fuel cell systems diagrams and the computer analysis of systems are included as well as the cash flows series for baseline systems

Study of component technologies for fuel cell on-site integrated energy systems

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment are integrated with three types of fuel cells. System design and computer simulations are developed to utilize the thermal energy discharge of the fuel in the most cost effective manner. The fuel provides all of the electric needs and a loss of load probability analysis is used to ensure adequate power plant reliability. Equipment cost is estimated for each of the systems analyzed. A levelized annual cost reflecting owning and operating costs including the cost of money was used to select the most promising integrated system configurations. Cash flows are presented for the most promising 16 systems. Several systems for the 96 unit apartment complex (a retail store was also studied) were cost competitive with both gas and electric based conventional systems. Thermal storage is shown to be beneficial and the optimum absorption chiller sizing (waste heat recovery) in connection with electric chillers are developed. Battery storage was analyzed since the system is not electric grid connected. Advanced absorption chillers were analyzed as well. Recommendations covering financing, technical development, and policy issues are given to accelerate the commercialization of the fuel cell for on-site power generation in buildings

Material Flow Analysis: Outcome Focus (MFA:OF) for Elucidating the Role of Infrastructure in the Development of a Liveable City

Engineered infrastructures (i.e., utilities, transport & digital) underpin modern society. Delivering services via these is especially challenging in cities where differing infrastructures form a web of interdependencies. There must be a step change in how infrastructures deliver services to cities, if those cities are to be liveable in the future (i.e., provide for citizen wellbeing, produce less CO2 & ensure the security of the resources they use). Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is a useful methodology for understanding how infrastructures transfer resources to, within and from cities and contribute to the city’s metabolism. Liveable Cities, a five-year research programme was established to identify & test radical engineering interventions leading to liveable cities of the future. In this paper, the authors propose an outcome-focussed variation on the MFA methodology (MFA: OF), evidenced through work on the resource flows of Birmingham, UK. These flows include water, energy, food & carbon-intensive materials (e.g., steel, paper, glass), as well as their associated waste. The contribution MFA: OF makes to elucidating the interactions & interdependencies between the flows is highlighted and suggestions are made for how it can contribute to the (radical) rethinking of the engineered infrastructure associated with such flow

Dynamic Matrix Factorization with Priors on Unknown Values

Advanced and effective collaborative filtering methods based on explicit feedback assume that unknown ratings do not follow the same model as the observed ones (\emph{not missing at random}). In this work, we build on this assumption, and introduce a novel dynamic matrix factorization framework that allows to set an explicit prior on unknown values. When new ratings, users, or items enter the system, we can update the factorization in time independent of the size of data (number of users, items and ratings). Hence, we can quickly recommend items even to very recent users. We test our methods on three large datasets, including two very sparse ones, in static and dynamic conditions. In each case, we outrank state-of-the-art matrix factorization methods that do not use a prior on unknown ratings.Comment: in the Proceedings of 21st ACM SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining 201

Agency Costs and Investment Behaviour. ENEPRI Working Paper, No. 47, 3 February 2007

How do differences in the credit channel affect investment behavior in the U.S. and the Euro area? To analyze this question, we calibrate an agency cost model of business cycles. We focus on two key components of the lending channel, the default premium associated with bank loans and bankruptcy rates, to identify the differences in the U.S. and European financial sectors. Our results indicate that the differences in financial structures affect quantitatively the cyclical behavior in the two areas: the magnitude of the credit channel effects is amplified by the differences in the financial structures. We further demonstrate that the effects of minor differences in the credit market translate into large, persistent and asymmetric fluctuations in price of capital, bankruptcy rate and risk premium. The effects imply that the Euro Area's supply elasticities for capital are less elastic than the U.S

A superspace formulation of an "asymptotic" OSp(3,1|2) invariance of Yang-Mills theories

We formulate a superspace field theory which is shown to be equivalent to the $c-\bar{c}$ symmetric BRS/Anti-BRS invariant Yang-Mills action. The theory uses a 6-dimensional superspace and one OSp(3,1|2) vector multiplet of unconstrained superfields. We establish a superspace WT identity and show that the formulation has an asymptotic OSp(3,1|2) invariance as the gauge parameter goes to infinity. We give a physical interpretation of this asymptotic OSp(3,1|2) invariance as a symmetry transformation among the longitudinal/time like degrees of freedom of $A_\mu$ and the ghost degrees of freedom.Comment: Latex, 20pages, No fig

Torque magnetometry studies of new low temperature metamagnetic states in ErNi_{2}B_{2}C

The metamagnetic transitions in single-crystal ErNi$_2$B$_2$C have been studied at 1.9 K with a Quantum Design torque magnetometer. The critical fields of the transitions depend crucially on the angle between applied field and the easy axis [100]. Torque measurements have been made while changing angular direction of the magnetic field (parallel to basal tetragonal $ab$-planes) in a wide angular range (more than two quadrants). Sequences of metamagnetic transitions with increasing field are found to be different for the magnetic field along (or close enough to) the easy [100] axis from that near the hard [110] axis. The study have revealed new metamagnetic states in ErNi$_{2}$B$_2$C which were not apparent in previous longitudinal-magnetization and neutron studies.Comment: 3 pages (4 figs. incl.) reported at 52th Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference, Tampa, Florida, USA, November 200

Time-dependent universal conductance fluctuations in mesoscopic Au wires: implications

In cold, mesoscopic conductors, two-level fluctuators lead to time-dependent universal conductance fluctuations (TDUCF) manifested as $1/f$ noise. In Au nanowires, we measure the magnetic field dependence of TDUCF, weak localization (WL), and magnetic field-driven (MF) UCF before and after treatments that alter magnetic scattering and passivate surface fluctuators. Inconsistencies between $L_{\phi}^{\rm WL}$ and $L_{\phi}^{\rm TDUCF}$ strongly suggest either that the theory of these mesoscopic phenomena in weakly disordered, highly pure Au is incomplete, or that the assumption that the TDUCF frequency dependence remains $1/f$ to very high frequencies is incorrect. In the latter case, TDUCF in excess of $1/f$ expectations may have implications for decoherence in solid-state qubits.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted to PR