An overview of HVDC technology

There is a growing use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) globally due to the many advantages of Direct Current (DC) transmission systems over Alternating Current (AC) transmission, including enabling transmission over long distances, higher transmission capacity and efficiency. Moreover, HVDC systems can be a great enabler in the transition to a low carbon electrical power system which is an important objective in today’s society. The objectives of the paper are to give a comprehensive overview of HVDC technology, its development, and present status, and to discuss its salient features, limitations and applications.</jats:p

Increasing Water Consumption in Licensed Premises

This report summarises the outcomes of the Increasing Water Consumption in Licensed Premises workshop held on Thursday 6 November 2014. The Workshop was facilitated by the Designing Out Crime research centre (DOC) at the University of Technology, Sydney. DOC’s workshop methods are based on human-centred design principles, and research into how designers solve complex problems. The workshop asked participants to place themselves in the position of a patron and design ways of increasing water consumption in licensed premises

Impacts of new technologies on load profiles

Desires to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well a period of technological development and falling technology prices, has led to increased interest in the use of new technologies in the energy sector. This paper, resulting from the GREEN Grid research program, presents initial analysis on the effects of three emerging technologies on the load profiles experienced by electricity distribution businesses. These three technologies are distributed photovoltaic generation, electric vehicles, and home energy storage systems. Widespread adoption of these technologies has the potential to cause a number of effects in the power system due to changing load profiles and the subsequently changing power flows. This paper presents modelling work firstly of the impacts of photovoltaic generation on load profiles. Regional variations in solar insolation and population density are taken into account. Secondly, the load of electric vehicle charging is modelled under different electric vehicle uptake and charging methodology scenarios. Thirdly the ability of EDB controlled energy storage systems to reduce peak load both with, and without, PV generation is modelled. The conventional notion that PV generation has no ability to reduce peak loads is tested, with results showing that while largely true there are some scenarios which challenge that notion. In the case of high rates of electric vehicle uptake and uncontrolled charging it is shown that a significant increase in the evening peak is to be expected. With more considered rates of electric vehicle uptake and charging delayed until late evening, either controlled or incentivized with night rate tariffs, it is shown that load impacts are minimal. Initial modelling of home battery energy storage systems show great promise in ability to reduce daily peaks given deployment in substantial numbers

Improving the Justice System: Victims of Crime Workshop

This report showcases the outcomes of the Improving the Justice System: Victims of Crime workshop in June 2014. This one-day workshop brought together Government and non-Government organisations who work with, and represent victims of crime in NSW to create a clear program of reform for the system to better serve victims of crime

Toward Future Installations: Mutual Interactions of Short Intakes With Modern High Bypass Fans

In this paper, we investigate the coupled interaction between a new short intake design with a modern fan in a high-bypass ratio civil engine, specifically under the off-design condition of high incidence. The interaction is expected to be much more significant than that on a conventional intake. The performance of both the intake-alone and rotor-alone configurations are examined under isolation. Subsequently, a comprehensive understanding on the two-way interaction between intake and fan is presented. This includes the effect of fan on intake angles of attack (AoA) tolerance (FoI) and the effect of circumferential and radial flow distortion induced by the intake on the fan performance (IoF). In the FoI scenario, the rotor effectively redistributes the mass flow at the fan-face. The AoA tolerance of the short-intake design has increased by ≈4 deg when compared with the intake-alone configuration. Dynamic nature of distortion due to shock unsteadiness has been quantified. ST plots and power spectral density (PSD) of pressure fluctuations show the existence of a spectral gap between the shock unsteadiness and blade passing, with almost an order of magnitude difference in the corresponding frequencies. In the IoF scenario, both the “large” (O(360 deg)) and “small” scale distortion (O(10–60 deg)) induced by the intake results in a non-uniform inflow to the rotor. Sector analysis reveals a substantial variation in the local operating condition of the fan as opposed to its steady characteristic. Streamline curvature, upwash, and wake thickening are identified to be the three key factors affecting the fan performance. These underlying mechanisms are discussed in detail to provide further insights into the physical understanding of the fan-intake interaction. In addition to the shock-induced separation on the intake lip, the current study shows that shorter intakes are much more prone to the upwash effect at higher AoA. Insufficient flow straightening along the engine axis is reconfirmed to be one of the limiting factors for the short-intake design

Toward Future Installations: Mutual Interactions of Short Intakes With Modern High Bypass Fans

In this paper, we investigate the coupled interaction between a new short intake design with a modern fan in a high-bypass ratio civil engine, specifically under the off-design condition of high incidence. The interaction is expected to be much more significant than that on a conventional intake. The performance of both the intake-alone and rotor-alone configurations are examined under isolation. Subsequently, a comprehensive understanding on the two-way interaction between intake and fan is presented. This includes the effect of fan on intake angles of attack (AoA) tolerance (FoI) and the effect of circumferential and radial flow distortion induced by the intake on the fan performance (IoF). In the FoI scenario, the rotor effectively redistributes the mass flow at the fan-face. The AoA tolerance of the short-intake design has increased by ≈4 deg when compared with the intake-alone configuration. Dynamic nature of distortion due to shock unsteadiness has been quantified. ST plots and power spectral density (PSD) of pressure fluctuations show the existence of a spectral gap between the shock unsteadiness and blade passing, with almost an order of magnitude difference in the corresponding frequencies. In the IoF scenario, both the “large” (O(360 deg)) and “small” scale distortion (O(10–60 deg)) induced by the intake results in a non-uniform inflow to the rotor. Sector analysis reveals a substantial variation in the local operating condition of the fan as opposed to its steady characteristic. Streamline curvature, upwash, and wake thickening are identified to be the three key factors affecting the fan performance. These underlying mechanisms are discussed in detail to provide further insights into the physical understanding of the fan-intake interaction. In addition to the shock-induced separation on the intake lip, the current study shows that shorter intakes are much more prone to the upwash effect at higher AoA. Insufficient flow straightening along the engine axis is reconfirmed to be one of the limiting factors for the short-intake design

GRB 180620A: Evidence for Late-time Energy Injection

The early optical emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) gives an opportunity to understand the central engine and first stages of these events. About 30% of GRBs present flares whose origin is still a subject of discussion. We present optical photometry of GRB 180620A with the COATLI telescope and RATIR instrument. COATLI started to observe from the end of prompt emission at T + 39.3 s and RATIR from T + 121.4 s. We supplement the optical data with the X-ray light curve from Swift/XRT. We observe an optical flare from T + 110 s to T + 550 s, with a temporal index decay α O,decay = 1.32 ± 0.01, and Δt/t = 1.63, which we interpret as the signature of a reverse shock component. After the initial normal decay the light curves show a long plateau from T + 500 s to T + 7800 s in both X-rays and the optical before decaying again after an achromatic jet break at T + 7800 s. Fluctuations are seen during the plateau phase in the optical. Adding to the complexity of GRB afterglows, the plateau phase (typically associated with the coasting phase of the jet) is seen in this object after the "normal" decay phase (associated with the deceleration phase of the jet), and the jet break phase occurs directly after the plateau. We suggest that this sequence of events can be explained by a rapid deceleration of the jet with t d ≲ 40 s due to the high density of the environment (≈100 cm-3) followed by reactivation of the central engine, which causes the flare and powers the plateau phase

The concept of RNA-assisted protein folding: the role of tRNA

We suggest that tRNA actively participates in the transfer of 3D information from mRNA to peptides - in addition to its well-known, "classical" role of translating the 3-letter RNA codes into the one letter protein code. The tRNA molecule displays a series of thermodynamically favored configurations during translation, a movement which places the codon and coded amino acids in proximity to each other and make physical contact between some amino acids and their codons possible. This specific codon-amino acid interaction of some selected amino acids is necessary for the transfer of spatial information from mRNA to coded proteins, and is known as RNA-assisted protein folding