Impact of climate policy uncertainty on the adoption of electricity generating technologies

This paper presents a real options model where multiple options are evaluated simultaneously so that the effect of the individual options on each other is accounted for. We apply this model to the electricity sector, where we analyze three typical technologies based on fossil fuel, fossil fuel with carbon capture and renewable energy, respectively. In this way, we can analyze the transition from CO₂-intensive to CO₂-neutral electricity production in the face of rising and uncertain CO₂ prices. In addition, such a modelling approach enables us to estimate precisely the expected value of (perfect) information, i.e. the willingness of investors and producers to pay for information about the correct CO₂ price path. As can be expected, the expected value of information rises with increasing CO₂ price uncertainty. In addition, the larger the price uncertainty, the larger are the cumulative CO₂ emissions over the coming century. The reason for this is that the transition to less CO₂-intensive technologies is increasingly postponed with rising CO₂ price uncertainty. By testing different price processes (geometric Brownian motion versus jump processes with different jump frequencies), we can also make useful recommendations concerning the importance of policy predictability. We find that it is better to have climate change policies that are stable over a certain length of time and change abruptly than less abrupt but more frequently changing policies. Less frequent fluctuations reduce the expected value of information and result in smaller cumulative CO₂ emissions.     

Hydridic,thermodynamic and kinetic properties of Hf2Ni intermetallic phase

The intermetallic compound Hf₂Ni was the subject of investigations by several methods. The relative stability was checked by calculating its enthalpy and cohesive properties, using the augmented plane wave plus local orbitals (APW + lo) method of ab initio calculations. The kinetics of hydrogen absorption in this compound was investigated in the temperature range from 573 to 823 K, under the constant hydrogen pressure of 1 bar. The obtained rate constants, k (s^?1), and hydriding capacities (H/M) are as follows: 0.00038 (0.69), 0.00131 (0.95), 0.00246 (1.13) and 0.0042 (0.92) for temperatures 573, 673, 723 and 823 K, respectively. The changes in crystal structure and morphology caused by multiple hydriding/dehydriding cycles were followed by XRD and SEM.     

Renewable energy in India: Historical developments and prospects

Promoting renewable energy in India has assumed great importance in recent years in view of high growth rate of energy consumption, high share of coal in domestic energy demand, heavy dependence on imports for meeting demands for petroleum fuels and volatility of world oil market. A number of renewable energy technologies (RETs) are now well established in the country. The technology that has achieved the most dramatic growth rate and success is wind energy; India ranks fourth in the world in terms of total installed capacity. India hosts the world's largest small gasifier programme and second largest biogas programme. After many years of slow growth, demand for solar water heaters appears to be gaining momentum. Small hydro has been growing in India at a slow but steady pace. Installation of some of the technologies appears to have slowed down in recent years; these include improved cooking stoves (ICSs) and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. In spite of many successes, the overall growth of renewable energy in India has remained rather slow. A number of factors are likely to boost the future prospects of renewable energy in the country; these include global pressure and voluntary targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction, a possible future oil crisis, intensification of rural electrification program, and import of hydropower from neighbouring countries.     

Agent-based simulations for protecting nursing homes with prevention and vaccination strategies

Due to its high lethality among older people, the safety of nursing homes has been of central importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. With test procedures and vaccines becoming available at scale, nursing homes might relax prohibitory measures while controlling the spread of infections. By control we mean that each index case infects less than one other person on average. Here, we develop an agent-based epidemiological model for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 calibrated to Austrian nursing homes to identify optimal prevention strategies. We find that the effectiveness of mitigation testing depends critically on test turnover time (time until test result), the detection threshold of tests and mitigation testing frequencies. Under realistic conditions and in absence of vaccinations, we find that mitigation testing of employees only might be sufficient to control outbreaks if tests have low turnover times and detection thresholds. If vaccines that are 60% effective against high viral load and transmission are available, control is achieved if 80% or more of the residents are vaccinated, even without mitigation testing and if residents are allowed to have visitors. Since these results strongly depend on vaccine efficacy against infection, retention of testing infrastructures, regular testing and sequencing of virus genomes is advised to enable early identification of new variants of concern.     

Age and motivation predict gaze behavior for facial expressions.

This study investigated age-related differences between younger (M = 25.52 years) and older (M = 70.51 years) adults in avoidance motivation and the influence of avoidance motivation on gaze preferences for happy, neutral, and angry faces. In line with the hypothesis of reduced negativity effect later in life, older adults avoided angry faces and (to a lesser degree) preferred happy faces more than younger adults did. This effect cannot be explained by age-related changes in dispositional motivation. Irrespective of age, avoidance motivation predicted gaze behavior towards emotional faces. The study demonstrates the importance of interindividual differences beyond young adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

An Immune-Evolutionary Algorithm for Multiple Rearrangements of Gene Expression Data

Microarray technologies are employed to simultaneously measure expression levels of thousands of genes. Data obtained from such experiments allow inference of individual gene functions, help to identify genes from specific tissues, to analyze the behavior of gene expression levels under various environmental conditions and under different cell cycle stages, and to identify inappropriately transcribed genes and several genetic diseases, among many other applications. As thousands of genes may be involved in a microarray experiment, computational tools for organizing and providing possible visualizations of the genes and their relationships are crucial to the understanding and analysis of the data. This work proposes an algorithm based on artificial immune systems for organizing gene expression data in order to simultaneously reveal multiple features in large amounts of data. A distinctive property of the proposed algorithm is the ability to provide a diversified set of high-quality rearrangements of the genes, opening up the possibility of identifying various co-regulated genes from representative graphical configurations of the expression levels. This is a very useful approach for biologists, because several co-regulated genes may exist under different conditions.     

Flow regime identification of two-phase liquid-liquid upflow through vertical pipe

The present work has attempted to identify the flow patterns during liquid-liquid two phase flow through a vertical pipe. Dyed kerosene and water have been selected as the test fluids. The measurements have been made for phase velocities varying from 0.05 to 1.5 m/s for both the liquids. The conductivity probe technique has been adopted and three different probe designs have been used to identify the patterns under different flow conditions. A parallel wire type probe traversing the entire cross-section along a diametral plane has indicated the existence of bubbly flow at low phase flow rates and dispersed bubbly flow at high velocities of water. Apart from the visual appearance of the signals, different statistical analysis namely the probability density function and wavelet analysis have been performed for a better appraisal of the flow situation. The information in the PDFs have been quantified by means of the statistical moments. The existence of the core-annular flow at high kerosene and low water velocities has been confirmed from measurements using a different probe design. The intermediate region between the bubbly and annular flow patterns is characterized by a random distribution of the two liquids with continually changing interface between them. This has been named as the churn turbulent flow pattern. The information thus obtained has been represented in the form of a flow pattern map.     

NO – oxygen scavenger or reaction intermediate in the decomposition of N2O?

Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide were found during the thermal desorption of surface species left on Fe-ferrierites after the decomposition of nitrous oxide. This demonstrates the formation of surface NOx species during N₂O decomposition. Repeated decomposition and subsequent desorption of surface species confirm the active role of surface NOx species. Addition of NO up to a fraction of 0.1 times the amount of N₂O increased the decomposition of nitrous oxide as well as the amount of surface NOx species. The use of nitrous oxide labeled with ¹⁸O demonstrated that the zeolite oxygens participate in the reaction and that the presence of NO enhances this participation.     

Evaluation of Adhesion Property of UHMWPE Fibers/Nano-epoxy by a Pullout Test

Ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers have poor wetting and adhesion properties to polymer resins because of the inert surface of the fibers. In our previous study, a reactive nano-epoxy matrix, developed by making a modification on the matrix with reactive graphitic nanofibers (r-GNFs), showed improved wettability to UHMWPE fibers. In this work, fiber bundle pullout tests were conducted to evaluate the adhesion property between the UHMWPE fibers and the nano-epoxy matrices. Analysis of load-displacement curves from pullout tests shows that debonding initiation load and ultimate debonding load increased considerably, because of effective improvement of adhesion between the UHMWPE fibers and nano-epoxy matrix. Stress-controlled and energy-controlled models of interfacial debonding were applied for theoretical analyses. Results from ultimate IFSS, frictional shear stress, and critical energy-release rate are in good agreement with experimental results. Nano-epoxy matrix with 0.3 wt% r-GNFs shows effective improvement in terms of adhesion property between UHMWPE fiber and epoxy.     

Tool wear and tool thermal expansion during micro-machining by spark assisted chemical engraving

Gravity-feed micro-hole machining using spark assisted chemical engraving (SACE) has achieved repeatable hole drilling up to few hundred microns in depth. However, the tool wear and tool thermal expansion were not included in these measurements. In this paper, quantitative results are presented for the tool wear and tool expansion for three tool electrode materials: tungsten, steel and stainless steel. A simplified lumped thermal model predicting tool expansion and its dynamics is presented. It is as well demonstrated how the tool electrode temperature can be controlled by pulsed voltage supply. These results will enable higher measurement accuracy and therefore more precise micro-machining by SACE.