Computer analysis,design and simulation of horizontal ground heat exchangers

This paper presents a new computerized procedure for dealing with the design of horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHE). The computer program is based on the transient model of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations governing heat and mass flow in soils. The model is two-dimensional and delineates the operation of ground heat storage with the HGHE and such phenomena as freezing/thawing and drying/rewetting of soil moisture. Comprehensive climatological data, such as ambient temperature, solar radiation, wind velocity, rainfall, snowfall, snow characterstics, and water vapour pressure is used to simulate conditions at the ground surface over any required length of time. The package can be applied to any geographical location by changing climatic and soil data input. The designer has the possibility of selecting any of 12 types of soils from sand to clay, 12 commercial heat pumps, nine different configurations of the HGHE, 16 plastic pipes for ground coils, and 13 ground coil fluids. The program, however, does not calculate the length of the HGHE but it evaluates the thermodynamic performance of a ground heat pump system and provides comprehensive data on thermal and hydraulic conditions in ground heat storage. The length of the ground heat exchanger is obtained from a line source theory model or from site dimensions and pipe spacing. Computed results for ground heat exchanger operation correlate fairly well with experimental data. Simulation of temperature and moisture content in the ground for natural conditions (no heat extraction/deposition) showed a fair agreement with field data. The entire computer program is user-friendly, interactive, menu-driven, and written in FORTRAN 77.     

Multi-emitter Si/GexSi1-x heterojunctionbipolar transistor with no base contact and enhanced logic functionality

We demonstrate multi-emitter Si/Ge_xSi_1-x n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's) which require no base contact for transistor operation. The base current is supplied by the additional emitter contact under reverse bias due to the heavy doping of the emitter-base junction. Large-area HBT test structures exhibit good transistor characteristics, with current gain β≈400 regardless of whether the base current is supplied by a test base electrode or one of the emitter contacts. These devices have enhanced logic functionality because of emitter contact symmetry. Since device fabrication does not require base electrode formation, the number of processing steps can be reduced without significant penalty to HBT performance     

Role of provocation poliomyelitis in vaccine-associated poliomyelitis

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic gastrostomy as an alternative to open gastrostomy was introduced with various technical variants 5 years ago. However, long-term results of these new methods are still lacking. METHODS: From 4/1993 to 2/1996, laparoscopic gastrostomies were performed on 42 patients (50.9 +/- 15.6 [24-71] years) with esophageal stenosis in locally advanced hypopharyngeal (17 patients) or oropharyngeal (nine patients) carcinoma, incurable esophageal carcinoma (13 patients) and cerebral dyspagia (three patients). Operating time was 38 +/- 11 min [15-65 min]. Procedure-related mortality was 0%. Major complications occurred in 2/42 (4.7%) patients; minor complications were found in 4/42 (9.4%) patients. During a total usage time of 427 months, 14 stoma infections occurred (0.11 infections/100 days). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic gastrostomy allows a safe, fast, and cheap reestablishment of enteral nutrition. The procedure is minimally invasive and can also be performed under local anesthesia. It has become our method of choice in patients with malignant, nonresectable subtotal stenosis of the hypopharynx or esophagus.     

Ultralow-voltage boron-doped diamond field emitter vacuum diode

A boron-doped diamond field emitter diode with ultralow turn-on voltage and high emission current is reported. The diamond field emitter diode structure with a built-in cap was fabricated using molds and electrostatic bonding techniques. The emission current versus anode voltage of the capped diamond emitter diode with boron doping, sp² content, and vacuum thermal electric (VTE) treatment shows a very low turn-on voltage of 2 V. A high emission current of 1 μA at an anode voltage of less than 10 V can be obtained from a single diamond tip. The turn-on voltage is significantly lower than comparable silicon field emitters     

Integrins and inside-out signal transduction: converging signals from PKC and PIP3

Recent studies have identified molecules that interact with integrins and appear to participate in the signaling pathways that regulate integrin adhesiveness. Clues provided by studies of these molecules point to the integration by integrins of signal transduction pathways implicated in cell division and activation.     

A novel method for elimination of line-current harmonics insingle-stage PFC switching regulators

This paper studies a particular single-stage power-factor-correction (PFC) switching regulator employing a discontinuous-conduction-mode (DCM) boost-input cell and a continuous-current-mode (CCM) forward output cell. Although this single-stage PFC regulator can provide a reasonably high power factor when its PFC stage is operating in discontinuous mode, substantial reduction in line-current harmonics is possible by applying a suitable frequency-modulation scheme. This paper derives a frequency-modulation scheme and proposes a practical implementation using a simple translinear analog circuit. A quantitative analysis on the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the line current when the circuit is subject to a limited range of frequency variations is presented along with some considerations for practical design. Experimental data obtained from a prototype confirms the effectiveness of the proposed frequency-modulation scheme. The proposed analog translinear circuit allows custom integrated circuit implementation, making it a viable low-cost solution to the elimination of line-current harmonics in switching regulators     

A novel double-circuit-rotor balanced induction motor for improvedslip-energy recovery drive performance. I. Modeling and simulation

A new construction for the rotor windings of balanced wound-rotor induction motors employed in the slip energy recovery drives is proposed, in this paper, to reduce the time harmonics which are commonly generated in the machine. The proposed machine has a double-circuit in the rotor. One circuit is star connected while the other is delta connected. Each of these two circuits is connected to a diode-bridge rectifier to achieve a twelve-pulse operation characteristics. The main objective of this paper is to develop a new model which is capable of simulating the proposed machine, neglecting nonlinearities due to magnetic saturation, and its associated converters. Such a model is further complicated due to the presence of the two rotor circuits and their mutual interaction     

Evaluating design metrics on large-scale software

Design-quality metrics that are being developed for predicting the potential quality and complexity of the system being developed are discussed. The goal of the metrics is to provide timely design information that can guide a developer in producing a higher quality product. The metrics were tested on projects developed in a university setting with client partners in industry. To further validate the metrics, they were applied to professionally developed systems to test their predictive qualities. The results of applying two design metrics and a composite metric to data from a large-scale industrial project are presented