Optimal design of an integrated renewable-storage energy system in a mixed-use building

The rise of mixed-use buildings contributes to the sustainable development of cities but are still met with challenges in energy management due to the lack of energy efficiency and sustainability guidelines. The use of integrated renewable-storage energy systems is a more beneficial solution to this problem over individual solutions; however, most design studies only focused on single-type buildings. Thus, this study aims to optimally design an integrated energy system for mixed-use buildings using HOMER Grid. The objective is to minimize the net present costs, subject to capacity limits, energy balances, and operational constraints. Economic metrics were used to evaluate and compare the proposed system to the varying design cases such as business-as-usual, stand-alone renewable source, and stand-alone energy storage. The case study considered a mixed-use building in a tropical area, with a solar photovoltaic system as the renewable energy source and lithium-ion battery as the energy storage system technology. The results show that the integrated system is the most financially attractive design case. It has a levelized cost of electricity of 0.1384 US$ kWh⁻¹, which is significantly less than the 0.2580 US$ kWh⁻¹ baseline. The system also provides electricity cost savings of 294 698 US$ y⁻¹, excess electricity of 35 746 kWh, and carbon emission reduction of 550 tons annually for a mixed-use building with daily average consumption of 4557-kWh and 763-kW peak demand.     

The propagation of pressure in a gelled waxy oil pipeline as studied by particle imaging velocimetry

Paraffinic crude oils in pipelines may form waxy gels during flow shutdowns. These gels can be dislodged by applying pressure if the wall shear stress, proportional to the local pressure gradient, exceeds the gel yield stress. The simplest models assume that the axial pressure profile becomes linear immediately after a jump in upstream pressure, but this fails to account for gel time‐dependent rheology or the effect of gel voids on pressure wave propagation. To investigate the former factor, pressure profile and particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) measurements were performed on a model oil gelled under pressure to reduce void formation. After a jump in upstream pressure to a value insufficient to restart flow, the axial pressure profile becomes linear in a two‐step process, with an immediate small rise in downstream pressure followed by a time‐delayed jump. The local downstream gel deformation measured by PIV exhibits similar two‐step time dependence. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Mass balance soil ingestion estimating methods and their application to inhabitants of rural and wilderness areas: A critical review

Quantitative soil ingestion studies employing a mass balance tracer approach have been used to provide a defensible means to estimate soil ingestion for human health risk assessments. Past studies have focused on soil ingestion in populations living in urban/suburban environments. There is a paucity of reliable quantitative soil ingestion data to support human health risk assessments of other lifestyles that may be predisposed to ingesting soil, such as agricultural workers or indigenous populations following traditional lifestyles. The results of a preliminary analysis of sampling and analytical variability that would result from assessing activities typical of populations in rural or wilderness areas and conducted over wide areas show that approximately 225 subject days would be required to detect a difference of 20 mg/d in soil ingestion. Given the typically small populations in these areas, future soil ingestion studies should be focused on specific activities with a high potential for soil ingestion.     

DFT Study of the Solvent Effects on the Structure, UV-Vis Spectra and the Antioxidant Activity of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester and Some of Its Derivatives

In this study, the antioxidative （3-methyl-2-butenyl caffeate）, BC efficiency of CAPE （caffeic acid phenethyl ester） and four of its derivatives （MBC （benzoic caffeate）, P3HC （phenethyl-3-hydroxy-cinnamate） and P4HC （phenethyl-4-hydroxy-cinnamate）） are compared in vacuum and in seven solvents. It turned out that the AA （antioxidant activity） in increasing order was P3HC 〈 P4HC 〈 CAPE 〈 MBC. Effects of solvents on the structure and the antioxidant activity of P3HC, P4HC, BC, MBC and CAPE, were studied at 133LYP/6-31G （d, p） then B3LYP/6-3 I＋G （d, p） level of theory using the conductor polarized continuum model methods. Thermodynamically, the authors showed that solvent effects on bond dissociation enthalpy are very weak （within 25 kJ/mol）, but sufficient to influence hydrogen bonds, O-H bond lengths and showed the preferential sites of hydrogen atom cleavage. In addition, solvent notably influences and changes the nature of the scavenging process of ROS （reactive oxygen species）, favouring by this way the HHAT （homolytic hydrogen atom transfer） in non polar solvents, the SPLET （sequential proton loss electron transfer） in polar solvents. Moreover, in chloroform and for the five molecules studied the SET-PT （sequential electron transfer proton transfer） mechanism is preferred compared to the HHAT, because in this solvent the IP is lower than the BDE. TD-DFT calculations revealed that solvent induce a bathochromic effect （red-shift of the wavelengths） coupled to hyperchromic or hypochromic effects.     

Review of Learning Disabilities and Psychic Conflict: A Psychoanalytic Casebook.

Review of book: Learning Disabilities and Psychic Conflict: A Psychoanalytic Casebook by Arden Aibel Rothstein and Jules Glenn, Madison, NJ: International Universities Press, 1999, 504 pp. Reviewed by Lucy M. Zabarenko. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Robust trajectory control in the workspace of a class of flexible robots

This paper presents a robust indirect adaptive controller for a class of robots which have a flexible beam as last link. Since the relation between the joint space and the workspace depends on both the kinematics and the dynamics, a virtual joint space is defined so as to be related kinematically to the workspace. In fact, the transformation is defined from the virtual joint space to the joint and deformation spaces. Since the robot is a non‐minimum‐phase system in the virtual joint space, the transformation is obtained, in‐line by the iterative use of the causal–anticausal approach. Based on that transformation, a robust adaptive controller can be designed to ensure robust and fast convergence of the tracking error in the joint, deformation and virtual joint spaces. The controller thus obtained is simulated for a manipulator having one rigid and one flexible link. The simulation results demonstrate the good performances and the robustness of the system. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Do wood fibers from a pulp mill affect the distribution of total and methyl mercury in river sediments?

The St. Lawrence River near Cornwall Ontario is affected by industrial mercury contamination of sediments and biota. It has been suggested that pulp and paper mill effluents may stimulate bacterial mercury methylation in these sediments, leading to contamination of aquatic biota. To test this hypothesis, we examined sediment–porewater dynamics of total mercury (THg) and methyl mercury (MeHg) at a site with high concentrations of wood fibers from a pulp and paper mill effluent and a nearby reference site with low wood fiber content. Dissolved phase THg (THg_diss) and MeHg (MeHg_diss) in porewater profiles showed that 38 ± 30.9% (SD) of THg in porewaters was in the methylated form regardless of wood fiber content. MeHg_diss and THg_diss concentrations were homogeneous between porewater and overlying water, indicating (a) that there is minimal net diffusion of MeHg_diss and THg_diss and (b) that redox-dependent processes such as sulfate reduction and Fe reduction were not associated with MeHg_diss distribution in these sediment profiles. MeHg and THg in solid phase showed coincident subsurface peaks at depths > 40 cm suggesting either that historical deposits of MeHg on particles (MeHg_(p)) are preserved in deep sediments, or that Hg methylation is active in deep sediments.