Nanosatellite fabrication and analysis

The advancements in technologies used in the aerospace industry have allowed universities to experiment with and develop small-scale satellites. Universities are taking advantage of the relatively low development costs of nanosatellite programs to give students experience in the field of spacecraft design. The purpose of Santa Clara University\u27s team, Nanosatellite Fabrication and Analysis, is to create a process to expedite the design, analysis, and fabrication phase of nanosatellite structures for students working on future satellite missions. The objective is to design four baseline nanosatellite structures to accommodate a range of potential missions where the designs are simple enough to be completely fabricated by students utilizing only the tools found in the Santa Clara University\u27s machine lab. Finite element analysis is conducted to ensure the designs meet NASA standards for natural frequency and that it can survive the forces it is subjected to during a launch. SatTherm, an easy to use thermal analysis tool for small spacecrafts, was used to conduct initial thermal simulations of the nanosatellite to determine the type of thermal components that will work for future missions. The success of team Nanosatellite Fabrication and Analysis proves that students can fabricate the structural frame of a nanosatellite using only the tools available in SCU\u27s machine lab

Exploring the Relationship of Urban Form and Mental Health in the 500 Largest Cities of the United States

Sustainable development efforts frequently focus on understanding and promoting the factors that influence health and wellbeing. Urban environments have received attention in recent years as spaces which can increase psychological distress. Despite hypothesized reports of urban environments being less conducive to good mental health then natural environments, few studies have investigated the effects of urban form characteristics (size, density, nuisances, transportation, and housing characteristics) and mental health measures at the city level. Using 2014 data from the 500 largest cities in the United States, this thesis evaluates the relationship between urban form and aggregate self-report scores of poor mental health. Results suggest that elements of the built environment have a direct influence on mental health status. The aim of this study is to test the association of urban form characteristics and psychological distress using a cross-sectional analysis of individual health survey responses. Mental health data were collected for a study of Center for Disease Control health characteristics in the 500 largest cities in the United States. Urban form data was collected from both United States Census and GIS datasets such as the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing and Transportation Affordability Index (H+T Index). Linear regression analysis and factor analyses were used to estimate the relationship between psychological distress and urban form characteristics. Results suggest that urban density is negatively associated with mental health status at city level. This finding is logical and confirms earlier research. While measures of housing cost and diversity were slightly negatively associated with mental health, measures of transportation cost and employment access were slightly positively associated

Value of local offshore renewable resource diversity for network hosting capacity

It is imperative to increase the connectable capacity (i.e., hosting capacity) of distributed generation in order to decarbonise electricity distribution networks. Hybrid generation that exploits complementarity in resource characteristics among different renewable types potentially provides value for minimising technical constraints and increasing the effective use of the network. Tidal, wave and wind energy are prominent offshore renewable energy sources. It is of importance to explore their potential complementarity for increasing network integration. In this work, the novel introduction of these distinct offshore renewable resources into hosting capacity evaluation enables the quantification of the benefits of various resource combinations. A scenario reduction technique is adapted to effectively consider variation of these renewables in an AC optimal power flow-based nonlinear optimisation model. Moreover, the beneficial impact of active network management (ANM) on enhancing the renewable complementarity is also investigated. The combination of complementary hybrid generation and ANM, specifically where the maxima of the generation profiles rarely co-occur with each other and with the demand minimum, is found to make the best use of the network components

Electronic Medical Records: Great Idea Or Great Threat To Privacy?

The practice of storing health care records in electronic format, rather than the traditional paper, is becoming increasing popular, especially since the advent of legislation that provided a framework for transmission of these data and encouragement to convert.  However, this process is not without challenges and there are significant concerns over how to maintain the security of these data.  On one hand, EMRs are expected to increase efficiency and provide cost savings. On the other hand, they increase the risk to privacy.  This paper discusses both the risks and benefits of EMRs in the current legal framework in order for us to gain a better understanding of these systems. Awareness of the risks will help in building more secure EMRs which may be mandated in most countries

Advancements in converter-based frequency stability : recommendations for industrial applications

The burning of fossil fuels and related carbon emissions are driving the ongoing climate crisis. A critical path to fully decarbonise the power system is to enable low-carbon converter-interfaced devices to take on responsibility for the generation of electrical energy. However, a low-carbon electrical power system also requires the converters to provide the features that fossil-fuel-powered synchronous machines (SMs) conventionally provide to stabilise the electrical grid. The electrical frequency is one key system parameter that needs to be stabilised. Converter-based frequency stabilising solutions have been proposed but the nuance of their operation is not fully understood. Therefore, this thesis aims to address some of the critical hurdles that the solutions must overcome. The thesis initially outlines the technical characteristics that are required to provide inertial and droop responses. Academic and industrial data are assessed to identify the technologies that are techno-economically suited to provide the support. The impact of different controller choice for droop provision is assessed. Previous works have suggested that certain droop controllers are equivalent but often only consider the steady state. Models of Synchronverter and Grid-forming (GFM) Droop controlled ideal energy storage systems are assessed to identify the equivalence of the controllers’ frequency support. A tuning guide developed earlier in the thesis enables the controllers to provide equivalent inertial and droop responses but the dynamics of each controller are shown to be different. The impact of the GFM Droop’s cascaded controllers and its parametric tuning on the frequency support are then assessed and suggestions are made for their tuning. The industrial attempts to quantify useful inertial response are then assessed. Parametric sweeps of example GFM and grid-following (GFL) controllers are carried out to compare their full capability with the industrial specifications. A more detailed power system model is also used to validate the findings of the parametric sweeps and to assess the impact of the controllers’ properties on the system frequency. The study highlights that useful inertial provision is not unique to GFMs, that GFLs should not be subject to blanket disqualifications from inertial support, and that transient phase responses may require more consideration in converter dominated systems. Finally, the ability of system operators (SOs) to measure wind turbine (WT) based inertial support is assessed. Experimental data of a grid-connected wind farm are used to identify the impact that the wind has on the inertial response. A review is carried out to assess the methods that are currently available to measure WT inertial response (including the existing industrial standard). The accuracy of the existing methods are assessed using a model of a WT and its converters, which resolves the dynamics from wind energy source to grid. Two new approaches are proposed that improve the accuracy of WT inertial response measurement.The burning of fossil fuels and related carbon emissions are driving the ongoing climate crisis. A critical path to fully decarbonise the power system is to enable low-carbon converter-interfaced devices to take on responsibility for the generation of electrical energy. However, a low-carbon electrical power system also requires the converters to provide the features that fossil-fuel-powered synchronous machines (SMs) conventionally provide to stabilise the electrical grid. The electrical frequency is one key system parameter that needs to be stabilised. Converter-based frequency stabilising solutions have been proposed but the nuance of their operation is not fully understood. Therefore, this thesis aims to address some of the critical hurdles that the solutions must overcome. The thesis initially outlines the technical characteristics that are required to provide inertial and droop responses. Academic and industrial data are assessed to identify the technologies that are techno-economically suited to provide the support. The impact of different controller choice for droop provision is assessed. Previous works have suggested that certain droop controllers are equivalent but often only consider the steady state. Models of Synchronverter and Grid-forming (GFM) Droop controlled ideal energy storage systems are assessed to identify the equivalence of the controllers’ frequency support. A tuning guide developed earlier in the thesis enables the controllers to provide equivalent inertial and droop responses but the dynamics of each controller are shown to be different. The impact of the GFM Droop’s cascaded controllers and its parametric tuning on the frequency support are then assessed and suggestions are made for their tuning. The industrial attempts to quantify useful inertial response are then assessed. Parametric sweeps of example GFM and grid-following (GFL) controllers are carried out to compare their full capability with the industrial specifications. A more detailed power system model is also used to validate the findings of the parametric sweeps and to assess the impact of the controllers’ properties on the system frequency. The study highlights that useful inertial provision is not unique to GFMs, that GFLs should not be subject to blanket disqualifications from inertial support, and that transient phase responses may require more consideration in converter dominated systems. Finally, the ability of system operators (SOs) to measure wind turbine (WT) based inertial support is assessed. Experimental data of a grid-connected wind farm are used to identify the impact that the wind has on the inertial response. A review is carried out to assess the methods that are currently available to measure WT inertial response (including the existing industrial standard). The accuracy of the existing methods are assessed using a model of a WT and its converters, which resolves the dynamics from wind energy source to grid. Two new approaches are proposed that improve the accuracy of WT inertial response measurement

SB61-16/17: Resolution Regarding UM Foundation Strategic Funding Priorities

SB61-16/17: Resolution Regarding UM Foundation Strategic Funding Priorities. This resolution passed 24Y-0N-3A at the February 15, 2017 meeting of Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

Techno-economic assessment of energy storage technologies for inertia response and frequency support from wind farms

This paper provides the result of a techno-economic study of potential energy storage technologies deployable at wind farms to provide short-term ancillary services such as inertia response and frequency support. Two different scenarios are considered including a single energy storage system for the whole wind farm and individual energy storage for each wind turbine (located at either the dc or the ac side of its grid-side converter). Simulations are introduced to check the technical viability of the proposal with different control strategies. Power and energy capability requirements demanded by both specific services are defined for each studied case based on present and future grid code needs. Based on these requirements, the study compares a wide range of energy storage technologies in terms of present-day technical readiness and properties and identifies potential candidate solutions. These are flywheels, supercapacitors, and three chemistries out of the Li-ion battery family. Finally, the results of a techno-economic assessment (mainly based on weight, volume, lifetime, and industry-confirmed costings) detail the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed solutions for the different scenarios under consideration. The main conclusion is that none of the candidates are found to be clearly superior to the others over the whole range of scenarios. Commercially available solutions have to be tailored to the different requirements depending on the amount of inertia, maximum Rate of Change of Frequency and maximum frequency deviation to be allowed

Minocycline differentially modulates human spatial memory systems

Microglia play a critical role in many processes fundamental to learning and memory in health and are implicated in Alzheimer’s pathogenesis. Minocycline, a centrally-penetrant tetracycline antibiotic, inhibits microglial activation and enhances long-term potentiation, synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis and hippocampal-dependent spatial memory in rodents, leading to clinical trials in human neurodegenerative diseases. However, the effects of minocycline on human memory have not previously been investigated. Utilising a double-blind, randomised crossover study design, we recruited 20 healthy male participants (mean 24.6 ± 5.0 years) who were each tested in two experimental sessions: once after 3 days of Minocycline 150 mg (twice daily), and once 3 days of placebo (identical administration). During each session, all completed an fMRI task designed to tap boundary- and landmark-based navigation (thought to rely on hippocampal and striatal learning mechanisms respectively). Given the rodent literature, we hypothesised that minocycline would selectively modulate hippocampal learning. In line with this, minocycline biased use of boundary- compared to landmark-based information (t980 = 3.140, p = 0.002). However, though this marginally improved performance for boundary-based objects (t980 = 1.972, p = 0.049), it was outweighed by impaired landmark-based navigation (t980 = 6.374, p < 0.001) resulting in an overall performance decrease (t980 = 3.295, p = 0.001). Furthermore, against expectations, minocycline significantly reduced activity during memory encoding in the right caudate (t977 = 2.992, p = 0.003) and five other cortical regions, with no significant effect in the hippocampus. In summary, minocycline impaired human spatial memory performance, likely through disruption of striatal processing resulting in greater biasing towards reliance on boundary-based navigation

Lockheed Martin: Dealing with Dependence on a Single Customer

Lockheed Martin is a giant in the aerospace and defense industry, and obtains more than four fifths of its revenues from governments for national defense. Budget deficits have caused the United States and other governments to carefully evaluate the amount they allocate to defense, and sharp cuts are anticipated. What can Lockheed Martin do to deal with reductions in demand from its most important customer