Optimizing Ice Thermal Storage To Reduce Energy Cost

Energy cost for buildings is an issue of concern for owners across the U.S. The bigger the building, the greater the concern. A part of this is due to the energy required to cool the building and the way in which charges are set when paying for energy consumed during different times of the day. This study will prove that designing ice thermal storage properly will minimize energy cost in buildings. The effectiveness of ice thermal storage as a means to reduce energy costs lies within transferring the time of most energy consumption from on-peak to off-peak periods. Multiple variables go into the equation of finding the optimal use of ice thermal storage and they are all judged with the final objective of minimizing monthly energy costs. This research discusses the optimal design of ice thermal storage and its impact on energy consumption, energy demand, and the total energy cost. A tool for optimal design of ice thermal storage is developed, considering variables such as chiller and ice storage sizes and charging and discharge times. The simulations take place in a four-story building and investigate the potential of Ice Thermal Storage as a resource in reducing and minimizing energy cost for cooling. The simulations test the effectiveness of Ice Thermal Storage implemented into the four-story building in ten locations across the United States

Optimizing Ice Thermal Storage To Reduce Energy Cost

Energy cost for buildings is an issue of concern for owners across the U.S. The bigger the building, the greater the concern. A part of this is due to the energy required to cool the building and the way in which charges are set when paying for energy consumed during different times of the day. This study will prove that designing ice thermal storage properly will minimize energy cost in buildings. The effectiveness of ice thermal storage as a means to reduce energy costs lies within transferring the time of most energy consumption from on-peak to off-peak periods. Multiple variables go into the equation of finding the optimal use of ice thermal storage and they are all judged with the final objective of minimizing monthly energy costs. This research discusses the optimal design of ice thermal storage and its impact on energy consumption, energy demand, and the total energy cost. A tool for optimal design of ice thermal storage is developed, considering variables such as chiller and ice storage sizes and charging and discharge times. The simulations take place in a four-story building and investigate the potential of Ice Thermal Storage as a resource in reducing and minimizing energy cost for cooling. The simulations test the effectiveness of Ice Thermal Storage implemented into the four-story building in ten locations across the United States

High-temperature scaling limit for directed polymers on a hierarchical lattice with bond disorder

Diamond "lattices" are sequences of recursively-defined graphs that provide a network of directed pathways between two fixed root nodes, $A$ and $B$. The construction recipe for diamond graphs depends on a branching number $b\in \mathbb{N}$ and a segmenting number $s\in \mathbb{N}$, for which a larger value of the ratio $s/b$ intuitively corresponds to more opportunities for intersections between two randomly chosen paths. By attaching i.i.d. random variables to the bonds of the graphs, I construct a random Gibbs measure on the set of directed paths by assigning each path an "energy" given by summing the random variables along the path. For the case $b=s$, I propose a scaling regime in which the temperature grows along with the number of hierarchical layers of the graphs, and the partition function (the normalization factor of the Gibbs measure) appears to converge in law. I prove that all of the positive integer moments of the partition function converge in this limiting regime. The motivation of this work is to prove a functional limit theorem that is analogous to a previous result obtained in the $b<s$ case.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figur

The human 'pitch center' responds differently to iterated noise and Huggins pitch

A magnetoencephalographic marker for pitch analysis (the pitch onset response) has been reported for different types of pitch-evoking stimuli, irrespective of whether the acoustic cues for pitch are monaurally or binaurally produced. It is claimed that the pitch onset response reflects a common cortical representation for pitch, putatively in lateral Heschl's gyrus. The result of this functional MRI study sheds doubt on this assertion. We report a direct comparison between iterated ripple noise and Huggins pitch in which we reveal a different pattern of auditory cortical activation associated with each pitch stimulus, even when individual variability in structure-function relations is accounted for. Our results suggest it may be premature to assume that lateral Heschl's gyrus is a universal pitch center

Long-term prevalence and predictors of prolonged grief disorder amongst bereaved cancer caregivers: A cohort study

Context: The short-term impact of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) following bereavement is well documented. The longer term sequelae of PGD however are poorly understood, possibly unrecognized, and may be incorrectly attributed to other mental health disorders and hence undertreated. Objectives: The aims of this study were to prospectively evaluate the prevalence of PGD three years post bereavement and to examine the predictors of long-term PGD in a population-based cohort of bereaved cancer caregivers. Methods: A cohort of primary family caregivers of patients admitted to one of three palliative care services in Melbourne, Australia, participated in the study (n = 301). Sociodemographic, mental health, and bereavement-related data were collected from the caregiver upon the patient\u27s admission to palliative care (T1). Further data addressing circumstances around the death and psychological health were collected at six (T2, n = 167), 13 (T3, n = 143), and 37 months (T4, n = 85) after bereavement. Results: At T4, 5% and 14% of bereaved caregivers met criteria for PGD and subthreshold PGD, respectively. Applying the total PGD score at T4, linear regression analysis found preloss anticipatory grief measured at T1 and self-reported coping measured at T2 were highly statistically significant predictors (both p \u3c 0.0001) of PGD in the longer term. Conclusion: For almost 20% of caregivers, the symptoms of PGD appear to persist at least three years post bereavement. These findings support the importance of screening caregivers upon the patient\u27s admission to palliative care and at six months after bereavement to ascertain their current mental health. Ideally, caregivers at risk of developing PGD can be identified and treated before PGD becomes entrenched

I Use the Student Recreation Center, but I Would Use It More if…: Understanding Male and Female Constraints to Student Recreation Center Use

Studies have found that there is a positive relationship between the number of student visits to campus recreation and academic outcomes such as rates of graduation and grade point average (Huesman, Brown, Lee, Kellogg, & Radcliffe, 2009). Despite the strong correlation between use of fitness facilities and academic performance some students choose not to visit, while some who use the facilities may not be maximizing such use due to constraints (barriers). The purpose of this study was to understand the constraints to using the campus recreation facility at a midsized New England university. Moreover, this study sought to understand the types of management actions that would help increase use of the recreation center by current users. An online survey was distributed to a random sample (N = 2,400) of all campus recreation visitors in fall of 2013 using a modified Dillman method of distribution (2009). A total of 882 respondents completed the survey for a response rate of nearly 37%. Important results from this study included that female students were much more likely than male students to report being constrained by not knowing how to use the free weight section safely (M = 3.40, SD = 1.143; M = 2.68, SD = 1.166, respectively) and that male students suggested that they were more likely to participate than female students (M = 3.07, SD = 1.182; M = 2.96, SD = 1.235, respectively) at the Student Recreation Center (SRC) if they were not as involved with other activities. This information can be used to guide the expansion planning of future SRC projects and to help improve the participation habits of students at the case institution

Time resolved structural dynamics of butadiyne-linked porphyrin dimers

In this work the timescales and mechanisms associated with the structural dynamics of butadiyne-linked porphyrin dimers are investigated through time resolved narrowband pump / broadband probe transient absorption spectroscopy. Our results confirm previous findings that the broadening is partly due to a distribution of structures with different (dihedral) angular conformations. Comparison of measurements with excitations on the red and blue sides of the Q-band unravel the ground and excited state conformational re-equilibration timescales. Further comparison to a planarized dimer, through addition of a ligand, provide conclusive evidence for the twisting motion performed by the porphyrin dimer in solution

The developmental influence of primary memory capacity on working memory and academic achievement

In this study, we investigate the development of primary memory capacity among children. Children between the ages of 5-8 completed three novel tasks (split span, interleaved lists, and a modified free recall task) that measured primary memory by estimating the number of items in the focus of attention that could be spontaneously recalled in serial order. These tasks were calibrated against traditional measures of simple and complex span. Clear age- related changes in these primary memory estimates were observed. There were marked individual differences in primary memory capacity but each novel measure was predictive of simple span performance. Among older children, each measure shared variance with reading and mathematics performance, whereas for younger children the interleaved lists task was the strongest single predictor of academic ability. We argue that these novel tasks have considerable potential for the measurement of primary memory capacity and provide new, complementary ways of measuring the transient memory processes that predict academic performance. The interleaved lists task also shared features with interference control tasks, and our findings suggest that young children have a particular difficulty in resisting distraction, and that variance in the ability to resist distraction is also shared with measures of educational attainment

Higgs-Mediated tau -> 3 mu in the Supersymmetric Seesaw Model

Recent observations of neutrino oscillations imply non-zero neutrino masses and flavor violation in the lepton sector, most economically explained by the seesaw mechanism. Within the context of supersymmetry, lepton flavor violation (LFV) among the neutrinos can be communicated by renormalization group flow to the sleptons and from there to the charged leptons. We show that LFV can appear in the couplings of the neutral Higgs bosons, an effect that is strongly enhanced at large tan(beta). In particular, we calculate the branching fraction for tau -> 3 mu and mu -> 3 e mediated by Higgs and find that they can be as large as 10^{-7} and 5x10^{-14} respectively. These modes, along with B^0 -> mu mu, can provide important evidence for supersymmetry before direct discovery of supersymmetric partners occurs. Along with tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma, they can also provide key insights into the form of the neutrino Yukawa mass matrix.Comment: 9 pages LaTeX, 2 figures. Added a discussion of mu -> 3e and its ramifications for probing neutrino mass matrix. Also added references, fixed typos, and made one notational chang

Role of wnts in prostate cancer bone metastases

Prostate cancer (CaP) is unique among all cancers in that when it metastasizes to bone, it typically forms osteoblastic lesions (characterized by increased bone production). CaP cells produce many factors, including Wnts that are implicated in tumor-induced osteoblastic activity. In this prospectus, we describe our research on Wnt and the CaP bone phenotype. Wnts are cysteine-rich glycoproteins that mediate bone development in the embryo and promote bone production in the adult. Wnts have been shown to have autocrine tumor effects, such as enhancing proliferation and protecting against apoptosis. In addition, we have recently identified that CaP-produced Wnts act in a paracrine fashion to induce osteoblastic activity in CaP bone metastases. In addition to Wnts, CaP cells express the soluble Wnt inhibitor dickkopf-1 (DKK-1). It appears that DKK-1 production occurs early in the development of skeletal metastases, which results in masking of osteogenic Wnts, thus favoring osteolysis at the metastatic site. As metastases progress, DKK-1 expression decreases allowing for unmasking of Wnt's osteoblastic activity and ultimately resulting in osteosclerosis at the metastatic site. We believe that DKK-1 is one of the switches that transitions the CaP bone metastasis activity from osteolytic to osteoblastic. Wnt/DKK-1 activity fits a model of CaP-induced bone remodeling occurring in a continuum composed of an osteolytic phase, mediated by receptor activator of NFkB ligand (RANKL), parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHRP) and DKK-1; a transitional phase, where environmental alterations promote expression of osteoblastic factors (Wnts) and decreases osteolytic factors (i.e., DKK-1); and an osteoblastic phase, in which tumor growth-associated hypoxia results in production of vascular endothelial growth factor and endothelin-1, which have osteoblastic activity. This model suggests that targeting both osteolytic activity and osteoblastic activity will provide efficacy for therapy of CaP bone metastases. J. Cell. Biochem. 97: 661–672, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49527/1/20735_ftp.pd