Gaming the Regulator: A Survey

Many regulators use benchmarking as part of the incentive-based regulation of natural monopolies so as to reduce the possibilities for gaming. However, the use of benchmarking can lead firms to pursue virtual rather than true performance improvements by gaming the regulator’s benchmarking in a number of ways that are contrary to the intentions of the scheme.     

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Cadmium Tin Oxide Ceramics in As-Fired and Electrochemically Reduced Forms

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been employed to investigate the chemical nature of samples of dicadmium stannate (Cd₂SnO₄) in the as-fired, electrochemically reduced, and reoxidized states. The reduction of Cd₂SnO₄ was found to be associated with a dramatic color change from bright yellow to dark green, a phenomenon commonly known as the electrochromic effect. Both quantitative XPS results and binding energy measurements proved that, upon exposure of the reduced ceramic bodies to air, the Sn²⁺ to Sn⁴⁺ transition readily took place to produce the intermediate compound, Cd₂SnO₃ with divalent tin. Prolonged exposure to the atmosphere did not result in further progress of reoxidation extending to monovalent cadmium. However, complete reoxidation of the reduced samples was possible by annealing in air at 350°C for a short period of time, e.g., 3 h, by which the original features of the as-fired state such as color and electrical conductivity were restored. The results also showed that reoxidized samples at high temperature assume the same XPS characteristics as those of as-fired ceramics.     

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Free Convection From a Horizontal Cylinder Located Above an Adiabatic Surface

Steady two-dimensional free convection heat transfer from an isothermal horizontal cylinder located above an adiabatic horizontal surface is studied experimentally and numerically. Experiments are carried out using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer for the ratios of cylinder spacing from the adiabatic surface to its diameter L/D = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 and the Rayleigh number range of 500 to 15,000. Also, a specifically developed computer code based on the finite-volume method, the SIMPLE algorithm, and nonorthogonal discretization grid system is used for the solution of the mass-, momentum-, and energy-governing equations for the Rayleigh numbers ranging from 100 to 100,000 and L/D ranging from 0.1 to 1.7. The effects of the Rayleigh number and spacing from the adiabatic surface on both local and average Nusselt numbers around the cylinder are investigated. A correlation based on the numerical data for the average Nusselt number of the cylinder as a function of Rayleigh number and L/D is presented in the aforementioned ranges.     

Facile Synthesis of 7-Aryl-benzo[h]tetrazolo[5,1-b]quinazoline-5,6-dione Fused Polycyclic Compounds by Using a Novel Magnetic Polyurethane Catalyst

Novel Brönsted acid functionalized magnetic polymeric nanocomposite, Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Fe₁₂O₁₉@PU-SO₃H, has been successfully synthesized and characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The catalytic activity of the nanocomposite was tested in the regioselective synthesis of 7-aryl-benzo[h]tetrazolo [5,1-b] quinazoline-5,6-diones in an eco-friendly and recyclable media, deep eutectic solvent (DES), based on choline chloride and urea. This novel method offers several advantages, such as high yields, short reaction time, environmentally friendly reaction media, easy isolation of the product, and also offers an easy method for the synthesis of nanocatalysts. The catalyst was readily recycled by the use of an external magnetic field and could be reused 6 times without significant loss of activity or mass. DES as one of the most promising environmentally benign and cost-effective alternatives to conventional ionic liquids and volatile organic solvents was recovered from the aqueous filtrate by evaporating the water under vacuum. The recycled DES was used up to 4 runs without any loss in activity.     

Modeling the free convection heat transfer in a partitioned cavity using ANFIS

In this paper, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is used to predict the free convection in a partitioned cavity consisting of an adiabatic partition. The main focus of the present paper is to consider the effects of partition angle and Rayleigh number variation on average heat transfer in the partitioned cavity. The training data for optimizing the ANFIS structure is obtained experimentally. For the best ANFIS structure obtained in this study, the mean relative errors of the train and test data were found to be 0.055% and 1.735% respectively, which shows that ANFIS can predict the experimental results precisely.     

Fuzzy modeling of the forced convection heat transfer from a V‐shaped plate exposed to an air slot jet

This paper focuses on the application of fuzzy logic (FL) to predict the forced convection heat transfer from V‐shaped plate internal surfaces exposed to an air impingement slot jet. The aim of the present paper is to consider the effects of the angle of a V‐shaped plate (Φ), slot‐to‐plate spacing ratio (Z/W), and Reynolds number (Re) variation on average heat transfer from the V‐shaped plate internal surfaces. The data used for developing the FL structure was obtained experimentally by a Mach‐Zehnder interferometer. The proposed FL was developed using MATLAB functions. It was observed that the average Nusselt number will be decreased with an increase in jet spacing and be increased with an increase in Reynolds number and angle of V‐shaped plate. Moreover, it is also shown that fuzzy logic is a powerful technique to use for predicting heat transfer due to its low error rate. The average error of the fuzzy predictions compared with experimental data was found to be 0.33% for this study. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21009     

Novel direct designs for 3-input XOR function for low-power and high-speed applications

Novel direct designs for 3-input exclusive-OR (XOR) function at transistor level are proposed in this article. These designs are appropriate for low-power and high-speed applications. The critical path of the presented designs consists of only two pass-transistors, which causes low propagation delay. Neither complementary inputs, nor V _DD and ground exist in the basic structure of these designs. The proposed designs have low dynamic and short-circuit power consumptions and their internal nodes dissipate negligible leakage power, which leads to low average power consumption. Some effective approaches are presented for improving the performance, voltage levels, and the driving capability and lowering the number of transistors of the basic structure of the designs. All of the proposed designs and several classical and state-of-the-art 3-input XOR circuits are simulated in a realistic condition using HSPICE with 90 nm CMOS technology at six supply voltages, ranging from 1.3 V down to 0.8 V. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed circuits are superior in terms of speed, power consumption and power-delay product (PDP) with respect to other designs.     

Differential Cascode Voltage Switch (DCVS) Strategies by CNTFET Technology for Standard Ternary Logic

Differential Cascode Voltage Switch (DCVS) is a well-known logic style, which constructs robust and reliable circuits. Two main strategies are studied in this paper to form static DCVS-based standard ternary fundamental logic components in digital electronics. While one of the strategies leads to fewer transistors, the other one has higher noise margin. New designs are simulated with HSPICE and 32 nm CNTFET technology at various realistic conditions such as different power supplies, load capacitors, frequencies, and temperatures. Simulations results demonstrate their robustness and efficiency even in the presence of PVT variations. In addition, new noise injection circuits for ternary logic are also presented to perform noise immunity analysis.