TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A 10 MWe SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANT USING AMMONIA-BASED THERMOCHEMICAL ENERGY STORAGE

The production of solar thermal power on a continuous, 24-h basis is possible by applying thermochemical energy storage. An international group of industrial and academic partners is studying such a base-load solar power plant concept, where the reversible thermo-catalytic ammonia reaction serves as the energy vector between supply and demand. Early results confirm the technical soundness of the concept using conventional technology, equipment and materials, and indicate also the potential for economic viability. A first-of-a-kind, solar-only demonstration power plant with a net capacity of 10 MW_e would require a capital investment of the order of AUD 180 million and operate with a net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency of 18% and a capacity factor of 80%. This would result in levelised electricity costs of less than AUD 0.25 per kWh.     

Growth of Ti:sapphire single crystal thin films by pulsed laser deposition

This paper documents the growth of single crystal Ti:sapphire thin films, typically 10 μm thick, on undoped sapphire substrates using pulsed laser deposition from a Ti:sapphire single crystal target with a doping level of 0.1 wt.% Ti₂O₃. These thin films are shown to have very high crystal quality using ion beam channelling and X-ray diffraction techniques. The degree of titanium incorporation into the films is investigated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and particle induced X-ray emission. These techniques show that levels of up to 0.08 wt.% Ti₂O₃ are present in the deposited layers.     

Confidentiality: Ethical and legal aspects for Canadian psychologists.

Discusses the ethical and legal aspects of confidentiality for Canadian psychologists, with particular emphasis on clinical psychology. The concepts of confidentiality, privileged communication, and privacy are clarified. The law of privileged communication in Canada is presented. Ethical standards, provincial and federal legislation, and case law bearing on confidentiality in clinical practice are discussed. Issues of mandatory child abuse reporting, the duty to protect, informed consent, and 3rd-party and client access to records are explored. Suggestions are made to the psychologist regarding the management of confidentiality. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Progressive and imaginal relaxation training for elderly persons with subjective anxiety.

Elders exposed to either progressive or imaginal relaxation procedures reported significant relaxation effects and showed improvement on measures of personal functioning. The results of the Physical Assessment Scale of the Relaxation Inventory indicated that relaxation responses were acquired within and across sessions. Large, consistent changes in relaxation occurred in all 4 sessions. The Symptom Checklist-90—Revised, which measures self-reported personal adjustment, showed significant positive changes following relaxation training and at 1-mo follow-up. Elders who imagined muscle tension release profited as much as those engaged in actual muscle tension-release activities. This finding is of importance for older adults who may experience physical limitations that contraindicate muscle-tension-release procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of rime-based orthographic analogy training on the word recognition skills of children with reading disability.

The aim of this study was to determine whether metacognitive strategy training in the use of rime spelling units would be an effective intervention strategy for children with reading disability. Thirty-six disabled readers were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 training groups, a rime analogy training group or an item-specific training group. Posttreatment measures were taken at the completion of the training, and 1-year follow-up data were obtained from the 2 training groups and a sample of 20 normally developing readers. Systematic strategy training in the use of rime spelling units produced generalized achievement gains and transfer to uninstructed materials and was more effective than training that focused on item-specific learning and sentence-level strategies. The superior posttreatment performance of the rime analogy group over the item-specific group was maintained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A twin study of cognitive function in chronic fatigue syndrome: The effects of sudden illness onset.

Variable reports of neuropsychological deficits in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may, in part, be attributable to methodological limitations. In this study, these limitations were addressed by controlling for genetic and environmental influences and by assessing the effects of comorbid depression and mode of illness onset. Specifically, the researchers conducted a co-twin control study of 22 pairs of monozygotic twins, in which 1 twin met strict criteria for CFS and the co-twin was healthy. Twins underwent a structured psychiatric interview and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment evaluating 6 cognitive domains. Results indicated that twin groups had similar intellectual and visual memory functioning, but fatigued twins exhibited decreases in motor functions (p = .05), speed of information processing (p = .02), verbal memory (p = .02), and executive functioning (p = .01). Major depression did not affect neuropsychological functioning among fatigued twins, although twins with sudden illness onset demonstrated slowed information processing compared with those with gradual onset (p = .01). Sudden onset CFS was associated with reduced speed of information processing. If confirmed, these findings suggest the need to distinguish illness onset in future CFS studies and may have implications for treatment, cognitive rehabilitation, and disability determination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

转型:运营商的不二选择

目前在电信行业,已经没有哪个单独的名词能用来描绘我们正在进入的21世纪的市场,它融合了通信、媒体、娱乐,是低价格、高质量、对客户极其友善的创新性市场.针对这样一个纷繁复杂的市场,早在10年前,就有业内人士呼吁:在位运营商需要转型,以便抓住在这个新市场中生存下来的任何机会.     

The use of information below fixation in reading and in visual search.

Two experiments examined whether or not readers obtain useful information from below the currently fixated line. In Exp 1, 15 adults read passages of text, and the availability of visual information below the line fixated was manipulated using a variant of the moving window technique. Reading was no slower when there was no letter information below the fixated line than when there was full information below the fixated line. However, a condition that made the strings of letters below the fixated line less wordlike caused reading to be slowed down by about 6%. In Exp 2, 15 adults searched for a target word through passages of text. There was no clear evidence that the availability of information below the line made search more efficient. It appears that in reading, little visual information is extracted below the line of text fixated. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low temperature fuel cells: Interactions between catalysts and engineering design

For many potential applications of fuel cells, especially road transport, it is highly desirable to use liquid fuels. In this paper it is shown that whether direct fuel cell systems (methanol/air) or indirect, hydrogen reformer to hydrogen are chosen, catalyst performance and cost plays a dominant role in the overall design. Notably, the maximum current densities which can usefully be employed are limited by the conductivity of low cost intercell plates in bipolar designs. Thus to attain respectable volume power densities, thin cell stack designs are essential. Considerations of overall simplicity, cooling and water control together with the need to operate at atmospheric pressure because of the cost, noise and inefficiency of air compressors all favour operating at 100°C or below. Although a number of systems could be constructed with known technology, costs are still too high for all but specialised applications. While useful engineering design work can be done using existing catalysts, present costs are far too high to justify widespread application. The recent discovery in the authors' laboratory of a base metal catalyst for the electrolytic oxidation of methanol together with past workers who have presented data on effective non-platinum air cathodes in acid electrolytes suggest that the quest is worthwhile. Bearing in mind the need to reduce total costs, while some system engineering development is worthwhile to provide solutions to the various physical problems involved, the authors argue that the primary effort on fuel cells should be in the fields of catalysis and electrode structure.