Inception voltage of corona in bipolar ionized fields-effect oncorona power loss

In this paper, an iterative finite-element-based algorithm is presented as a numerical tool for the solution of the bipolar ionized field around high-voltage DC (HVDC) transmission lines. The effect of including unequal values of the positive and negative corona inception voltages and ion mobilities on the corona power loss is investigated. In addition, the effect of negative ion field enhancement on reducing the positive conductor corona inception voltage is also studied. The present algorithm is applied to different laboratory and full-scale transmission line configurations. Comparison with previously computed V-I characteristics showed that the present computed values were in better agreement with the experiment. Also, it has been found that the effect of unequal corona inception voltages on the corona power loss (or corona current) is noticeable at applied voltages very near to the inception values     

Determination of methyl gallate in Bauhinia retusa extract by high-performance liquid and thin-layer chromatography

Two stability-indicating chromatographic methods are reported for the determination of methyl gallate in crude extracts of Bauhinia retusa. Separation by high performance thin layer chromatography was conducted on silica gel aluminum sheets using 9.5:0.5:0.2 (v/v/v) chloroform:methanol:acetic acid at 280 nm. The results from the 2–40 µg/band were used to prepare a linear calibration graph. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.5 and 1.5 µg/band, respectively. The reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic isolation of methyl gallate was performed at ambient temperature with an injection volume of 10 μL. The mobile phase consisted of 40:60 (v/v) methanol:0.1% ortho-phosphoric acid. The separation was performed at 1 mL/min using a detection wavelength of 280 nm. The calibration graph for methyl gallate was rectilinear from 0.02–40 µg/mL with limits of detection and quantitation of 0.004 and 0.010 µg/mL, respectively. For both methods, intra-day and inter-day precision were evaluated and the relative standard deviation was less than 2%, indicating good precision. The robustness was evaluated by making small and deliberate changes to appropriate parameters and the calculated relative standard deviation was less than 2%.The chromatographic methods were employed to determine methyl gallate in crude Bauhinia retusa extracts.     

A Nonzero Sum Approach to Interactive Electricity Consumption

The electricity supply industry, unlike other industries, is hard pressed by the very nature of electricity. The inability to be stored economically and the requirement for instant response to consumption demands are the two major business challenges facing the electricity supply industry's service providers. The industry has, therefore, to invest in assets with capacities that may be called upon, in total or in part, only for limited periods of time during any given year. For these reasons and for other potential cost saving measures the need for consumers' continuous, ?on-line?, interaction arises. This paper presents two mathematical equations to continuously compute the capacity and energy charges with built in incentives and penalties to the consumers. The proposed equations lend themselves, to a large extent, to replace currently applied yearly averaged incentives and penalties. The application of the proposed equations would, in essence, avoid the current potential adverse impact on the economics of the electricity industry service providers, that are typically associated with the unaccounted for fluctuations of the consumption. The primary objective of the proposed equations is to entice consumers to interactively manage and/or customize, on their own, their consumption patterns to their benefits and that of the service providers.     

Impact of electromagnetic field management on the design of 500 kV transmission lines

The electric and magnetic field (EMF) issue has become an area of increasing public concern. There is a heightened sensitivity among the public to the siting and construction of new, and the upgrading of existing electric facilities. There is substantial scientific uncertainty and no widespread agreement among scientists as to how the presently available information regarding the possible health effects of electric and magnetic fields should be interpreted. Animal and epidemiological studies are inconclusive on whether exposure to EMF can cause human health effects.

Minimizing electric and magnetic field strength is one of the many factors to consider in the planning and design of a transmission system. It must be considered along with other issues such as safety, environmental concerns, reliability, insulation and electrical clearance requirements, aesthetics, cost, operations and maintenance. The field reduction techniques described in this paper are proven methods, and the new techniques are explained thoroughly and incorporated taking into consideration the percentage field reduction, maintenance, and operational reliability.

The constraints for electric and magnetic field reduction by line compaction and optimization of bundles configuration are studied taking into consideration the international accepted minimum clearances. The importance of the phase configuration and sequence is also demonstrated. Novel-field cancellation methods are presented. Systematic comparisons of the effectiveness of different line designs in reducing the EMF are included.     

Enabling connectivity for tactical networks in mountainous areas by aerial relays

A general modeling framework for realistic performance evaluations of tactical mobile ad-hoc networks deployed in mountainous areas is presented. The framework is easily extensible, and can be eventually automated. It can be also used to generate data for other network simulators. The framework utilizes the freely downloadable high resolution 3D terrain data to define time dependent trajectories of network nodes. The node speeds and directions are linked to the terrain profile which extends the previously proposed mobility models. The path-loss analysis along the node trajectories revealed the need for aerial relays to enable full network connectivity at all times. The network consisting of 5 cluster heads and a single stationary relay is considered as a case study. The relay location and its antenna height are optimized to achieve the line-of-sight connectivity over the whole mission duration. The antenna radiation pattern at the relay is incorporated in the analysis. The resulting star network topology is used by the cluster heads to broadcast their packets to all other cluster heads. Several relaying schemes including the amplify-and-forward and the decode-and-forward relaying are studied together with the go-back-N retransmissions to achieve the reliable data transfer.

     

Intronic Polymorphisms in the CDKN2B-AS1 Gene Are Strongly Associated with the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Artery Disease in the Saudi Population

Recent genome-wide association studies identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the chromosome 9p21.3 conferring the risk for CAD (coronary artery disease) in individuals of Caucasian ancestry. We performed a genetic association study to investigate the effect of 12 candidate SNPs within 9p21.3 locus on the risk of CAD in the Saudi population of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A total of 250 Saudi CAD patients who had experienced an myocardial infarction (MI) and 252 Saudi age-matched healthy controls were genotyped using TaqMan assay. Controls with evidenced lack of CAD provided 90% of statistical power at the type I error rate of 0.05. Five percent of the results were rechecked for quality control using Sanger sequencing, the results of which concurred with the TaqMan genotyping results. Association analysis of 12 SNPs indicated a significant difference in the genotype distribution for four SNPs between cases and controls (rs564398 p = 0.0315, χ² = 4.6, odds ratio (OD) = 1.5; rs4977574 p = 0.0336, χ² = 4.5, OD = 1.4; rs2891168 p = 1.85 × 10 − 10, χ² = 40.6, OD = 2.1 and rs1333042 p = 5.14 × 10 − 9, χ² = 34.1, OD = 2.2). The study identified three protective haplotypes (TAAG p = 1.00 × 10 − 4; AGTA p = 0.022 and GGGCC p = 0.0175) and a risk haplotype (TGGA p = 2.86 × 10 − 10) for the development of CAD. This study is in line with others that indicated that the SNPs located in the intronic region of the CDKN2B-AS1 gene are associated with CAD.     

Induced voltages on fence wires and pipelines by AC powertransmission lines

A method is developed for calculating the induced voltages on fence wires/pipelines underneath AC power transmission lines. The method is based on the charge simulation technique and takes into account the disturbances of the electric field and potential due to the presence of the fence wire/pipeline underneath the line. The calculated values of the induced voltage on fence wires are compared with those measured before. Induced voltages on pipelines underneath 230- and 380-kV lines are measured, correlated to the calculated values and discussed in the light of electric field induction on objects adjacent to AC power transmission lines     

A significant improvement in adsorption behavior of mesoporous TUD-1 silica through neodymium incorporation

Neodymium was incorporated into the three-dimensional mesoporous siliceous material TUD-1.In order to understand the chemical and morphological structure of the prepared material,several characterization techniques were performed.The characterization results show the formation of highly distributed isolated Nd3+ions incorporated in the silica matrix in tetrahedrally coordinated structure,moreover no aggregation of separate phase(s)was/were observed.The prepared material was investigated as an adsorbent for methyl green(MG)dye in aqueous solution as a model cationic dye.The results show higher adsorption capacity for Nd-TUD-1 by almost 24 times higher than the neat parent TUD-1 material and more than 100 times higher than bulky Nd₂O₃under neutral pH.The adsorption results were fitted perfectly with pseudo-second-order model.Moreover,the adsorption isotherms were perfectly fitted with Freundlich isotherm model which indicates the formation of a multilayer of the dye molecules onto the Nd-TUD-1 surface as a physisorption with endothermic nature.