8,158 research outputs found
Active heat exchange system development for latent heat thermal energy storage
Active heat exchange concepts for use with thermal energy storage systems in the temperature range of 250 C to 350 C, using the heat of fusion of molten salts for storing thermal energy are described. Salt mixtures that freeze and melt in appropriate ranges are identified and are evaluated for physico-chemical, economic, corrosive and safety characteristics. Eight active heat exchange concepts for heat transfer during solidification are conceived and conceptually designed for use with selected storage media. The concepts are analyzed for their scalability, maintenance, safety, technological development and costs. A model for estimating and scaling storage system costs is developed and is used for economic evaluation of salt mixtures and heat exchange concepts for a large scale application. The importance of comparing salts and heat exchange concepts on a total system cost basis, rather than the component cost basis alone, is pointed out. The heat exchange concepts were sized and compared for 6.5 MPa/281 C steam conditions and a 1000 MW(t) heat rate for six hours. A cost sensitivity analysis for other design conditions is also carried out
Mechanism of droplet-formation in a supersonic microfluidic spray device
Spray drying is an approach employed in automotive, food, and pharmaceutical industries as a robust and cost efficient liquid atomization technique offering direct control over droplet dimensions. The majority of commercially available spray nozzles are designed for large throughput spray drying applications or uniform surface coating, but microfluidic nebulizers have recently been developed as small scale alternatives. Here, we explore the physical parameters that define the droplet size and formation under supersonic flow conditions commonly found in microfluidic spray drying systems. We examined the spray nozzle operation using high speed imaging and laser scattering measurements, which allowed us to describe the spray regimes and droplet size distributions. It was determined that by using this spray nozzle device, droplets with diameters of 4–8 μm could be generated. Moreover, we show that the supersonic de Laval nozzle model can be used to predict the average droplet size. Our approach can be used as a platform for interfacing fluid microprocessing with gas phase detection and characterization
Heart rate variability in relation to cognition and behavior in neurodegenerative diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Neurodegenerative diseases, which frequently present with neuropsychiatric symptoms related to prefrontal cortical dysfunction, can alter the integrity of the neural networks involved in central autonomic nervous system regulation, which is proposed to be indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). We systematically reviewed the characteristics, methodology and outcomes of 27 studies of HRV in relation to measures of cognition and behavior in neurodegenerative conditions, and assessed the strength of this relationship, cross-sectionally, across 18 studies. A significant, moderate effect was observed (r = 0.25), such that higher HRV was related to better cognitive and behavioral scores, which was not influenced by mean age or cognitive status. There was no evidence of small-study effects but we could not rule out publication bias, and other factors may have contributed to heterogeneity between studies. Our findings support the proposal that HRV may be a marker of self-regulatory processes in neurodegenerative conditions, and further research on this association is needed in relation to neuropsychiatric symptoms and alongside neuroimaging methods
Barro's fertility equations: the robustness of the role of female education and income
Barro and Lee (1994) and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1995) find that real per-capita GDP and both male and female education have important effects on fertility in their cross-country empirical studies. In order to assess the robustness of their results, their estimated models are subjected to specification and diagnostic testing, the effects on the model of using the improved Barro and Lee (1996) cross-country data on educational attainment of the population aged 15 and over are examined, and the different specifications used by Barro and Lee and by Barro and Sala-i-Martin compared. The results obtained suggest that their fertility equations do not perform well in terms of diagnostic testing, and are very sensitive to the use of different vintages of the educational attainment proxies and of the Summers-Heston cross-country income data. A robust explanation of fertility, to link with empirical growth equations, has, therefore, not yet been found; further work is required in this area
The Sources of b-Quarks at the Tevatron and their Correlations
The leading-log order QCD hard scattering Monte-Carlo models of HERWIG,
ISAJET, and PYTHIA are used to study the sources of b-quarks at the Tevatron.
The reactions responsible for producing b and bbar quarks are separated into
three categories; flavor creation, flavor excitation, and
parton-shower/fragmentation. Flavor creation corresponds to the production of a
b-bbar pair by gluon fusion or by annihilation of light quarks, while flavor
excitation corresponds to a b or bbar quark being knocked out of the
initial-state by a gluon or a light quark or antiquark. The third source occurs
when a b-bbar pair is produced within a parton shower or during the
fragmentation process of a gluon or a light quark or antiquark (includes gluon
splitting). The QCD Monte-Carlo models indicate that all three sources of
b-quarks are important at the Tevatron and when combined they qualitatively
describe the inclusive cross-section data. Correlations between the b and bbar
quark are very different for the three sources and can be used to isolate the
individual contributions.Comment: RevTex4, 14 pages, 20 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Humble Machines: Attending to the Underappreciated Costs of Misplaced Distrust
It is curious that AI increasingly outperforms human decision makers, yet
much of the public distrusts AI to make decisions affecting their lives. In
this paper we explore a novel theory that may explain one reason for this. We
propose that public distrust of AI is a moral consequence of designing systems
that prioritize reduction of costs of false positives over less tangible costs
of false negatives. We show that such systems, which we characterize as
'distrustful', are more likely to miscategorize trustworthy individuals, with
cascading consequences to both those individuals and the overall human-AI trust
relationship. Ultimately, we argue that public distrust of AI stems from
well-founded concern about the potential of being miscategorized. We propose
that restoring public trust in AI will require that systems are designed to
embody a stance of 'humble trust', whereby the moral costs of the misplaced
distrust associated with false negatives is weighted appropriately during
development and use
The convergence of the ab-initio many-body expansion for the cohesive energy of solid mercury
A many-body expansion for mercury clusters of the form E = \sum_{i<j}\Delta
\epsilon_{ij} + \sum_{i<j<k}\Delta \epsilon_{ijk} + ... \quad, does not
converge smoothly with increasing cluster size towards the solid state. Even
for smaller cluster sizes (up to n=6), where van der Waals forces still
dominate, one observes bad convergence behaviour. For solid mercury the
convergence of the many-body expansion can dramatically be improved by an
incremental procedure within an embedded cluster approach. Here one adds the
coupled cluster many-body electron correlation contributions of the embedded
cluster to the bulk HF energy. In this way we obtain a cohesive energy (not
corrected for zero-point vibration) of 0.79 eV in perfect agreement with the
experimental value.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted PR
VLBI observations of the Crab nebula pulsar
Observations were made at meter wave-lengths using very long base-line interferometry techniques. At 196.5 MHz no resolution of the pulsar are observed; all the pulse shapes observed with the interferometers are similar to single dish profiles, and all the power pulsates. At 111.5 MHz besides the pulsing power there is always a steady component, presumably due to interstellar scattering. The pulsar is slightly resolved at 111.5 MHz with an apparent angular diameter of 0.07 sec ? 0.01 sec. A 50 percent linear polarization of the time-averaged power is noted at 196.5 MHz; at 111.5 MHz, 20 percent of the total time-averaged power is polarized, 35 percent of the pulsing power is polarized, and the steady component is unpolarized
Application of an equine composite pain scale and its association with plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone concentrations and serum cortisol concentrations in horses with colic
This study assessed the application of a modified equine composite pain scale (CPS) and identified the inter‐observer reliability. Associations between CPS scores and the measured concentrations of serum cortisol ([cortisol]) and plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone ([ACTH]) in horses presenting with colic were determined. The study design was prospective, uni‐centred and observational. The inter‐observer reliability of the adapted CPS was determined for 59 horses hospitalised for a variety of conditions. The associations between CPS, ACTH and cortisol were assessed in a further 49 horses admitted for medical or surgical colic. During hospitalisation, blood samples were obtained each morning and analysed for serum [cortisol] and plasma [ACTH]. Horses were pain scored using the adapted CPS score. Data from the most painful time point (n = 48 horses; n = 48 [cortisol]; n = 44 [ACTH]) and all data time points (n = 49 horses and n = 133 time points) were used for analysis of association between [cortisol], [ACTH] and CPS score. The CPS score inter‐observer reliability was excellent (n = 59 horses; n = 102 pain scores; weighted kappa 0.863). CPS score and [cortisol] were positively associated at the most painful time point (P < 0.001) and at all data time points (P < 0.001). No significant association was found between CPS score and [ACTH]. [ACTH] was associated with [cortisol] (P = 0.034) when all time points were analysed but not when only the most painful point was analysed. The significant correlation identified between CPS score and [cortisol] in medical and surgical colic cases provides physiological validation of pain scores as a marker of underlying stress in horses with colic
Controlling the accuracy of the density matrix renormalization group method: The Dynamical Block State Selection approach
We have applied the momentum space version of the Density Matrix
Renormalization Group method (-DMRG) in quantum chemistry in order to study
the accuracy of the algorithm in the new context. We have shown numerically
that it is possible to determine the desired accuracy of the method in advance
of the calculations by dynamically controlling the truncation error and the
number of block states using a novel protocol which we dubbed Dynamical Block
State Selection (DBSS). The relationship between the real error and truncation
error has been studied as a function of the number of orbitals and the fraction
of filled orbitals. We have calculated the ground state of the molecules
CH, HO, and F as well as the first excited state of CH. Our
largest calculations were carried out with 57 orbitals, the largest number of
block states was 1500--2000, and the largest dimensions of the Hilbert space of
the superblock configuration was 800.000--1.200.000.Comment: 12 page
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