Nature of heterophase inclusions in high-purity optical fiber materials as studied with 3D laser ultramicroscopy

3D laser ultramicroscopy (3D LUM) is intended specially for determining the concentration and size distribution of submicron inclusions in the bulk samples of high-purity materials for visible and IR fiber optics. In this work the 3D LUM technique is shown to be able to identify the nature of individual inclusions detected. The measurement of the light scattered by an inclusion at a varied probe beam wavelength and polarization and at a varied scattered light collection angle makes it possible to determine the inclusion refractive index. The 3D LUM possibilities are illustrated by the example of studying the inclusion nature in the As₂S₃ glass samples prepared by the direct synthesis from elements in a quartz container at elevated temperatures.     

粉煤灰降失水水泥浆在天然气井固井中的研究与应用

长庆天然气田属于低压、低渗透气田,存在承压能力较低的地层,固井设计要求全井段封固,并且采用双级双凝施工工艺。但由于用于低密度水泥浆中的漂珠生产量降低,价格上升,研究应用替代产品是固井技术发展的方向。在一级领浆中研究应用了粉煤灰水泥浆体系,其性能和固井质量可完全满足固井要求。粉煤灰水泥浆体系价格低和固井质量优良,使其成为漂珠水泥浆体系的替代配方。     

Shift in thinking to address the 21st century hunger gap

The present water policy debate is dominated by the 30 yr old mission to secure water supply and sanitation to all people. The water needed to produce a nutritionally acceptable diet for one person is however 70 times as large as the amount needed for domestic water supply. The food security dilemma is largest in arid climate regions, a situation constituting a formidable challenge. It is suggested that an additional 5 600 km³/yr of consumptive water use will be needed to produce an adequate amount of food by 2050 – i.e almost a doubling of today’s consumptive use of 6800 km³/yr. Past misinterpretations and conceptual deficiencies show the importance of a shift in thinking. Combining the scale of the challenge and the time scale of the efforts to feed humanity and eradicate hunger leads to an impression of great urgency. This urgency strengthens the call for international research both for supporting agricultural upgrading, and for much better handling of issues of environmental sustainability. What stands out is the need of a new generation of water professionals, able to handle complexity and able to incorporate water implications of land use and of ecosystem health in integrated water resources management. It will for those reasons be essential and urgent to upgrade the educational system to producing this new generation.     

A general formula for the evaluation of thermodynamic and aerodynamic losses in nucleating steam flow

Near saturation steam undergoing rapid expansion, with homogeneous nucleation of water droplets, is numerically studied in a series of converging/diverging nozzles with and without shocks. To understand loss mechanisms in such flows a numerical model is presented to calculate thermodynamic losses, which is further used to quantify associated total aerodynamic losses. For the converging/diverging nozzle configuration, the model shows that the overall thermodynamic loss is only mildly influenced by increasing shock strength, while the aerodynamic losses follow that of the single phase flow, and are of the same magnitude as the thermodynamic loss only in the case of very weak shocks. The thermodynamic losses can be attributed to two influences, the homogeneous nucleation event, and the post-shock thermal oscillations in the two-phase system. The calculations rely on a new two-phase CFD model, previously reported, for non-equilibrium phase change with droplet nucleation applicable to general 3D flow configurations.     

Encapsulation of PV modules using ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer as a pottant: A critical review

The primary purpose of this work is to review the literature about what is and is not known about using ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA0 copolymer as the encapsulant (or pottant) material in photovoltaic (PV) modules. Secondary purposes include elucidating the complexity of the encapsulation problem, providing an overview about encapsulation of PV cells and modules, providing a historical overview of the relevant research and development on EVA, summarizing performance losses reported for PV systems deployed since ca. 1981, and summarizing the general problems of polymer stability in a solar environment. We also provide a critical review of aspects of reported work for cases that we believe are important.Failure modes resolved in the early work to establish reliability of deployed modules and the purposes and properties of pottants, are summarized. Typical performance losses in large field-deployed, large-scale systems ranging from 1% to 10% per year are given quantitatively, and qualitative reports of EVA discoloration are summarized with respect to ultraviolet (UV), world-wide location and site dependence.The general stability of polymers and their desirable bulk properties for solar utilization are given. The stabilization formulation for EVA, its effectiveness, and changes in it during degradation are discussed. The degradation mechanisms for the base resin, e.g., unstabilized Elvax 150^TM, and stabilized EVA are indicated for literature dating to the early 1950s, and the role played by unsaturated chromophores is indicated. The limited number of studies relating discoloration and PV cell efficiency are summarized.Observed degradation of EVA or the unstabilized base resin in the laboratory and examples used to measure the degradation are summarized in sections entitled: (1) thermally-induced degradation; (2) photodegradation and photothermal degradation of EVA in different temperature regimes; (3) photobleaching and photodegradation of the UV absorber and cross-linking agent; (4) acetic acid and metal and metal-oxide catalyzed oxidative degradation; and (5) discolaration and PV cell efficiency losses.Processing effects/influences on EVA stability are discussed in sections entitled: (1) EVA raw materials and extruded, uncured films; (2) thermal encapsulation processes; (3) effects of lamination, curing, and curing peroxide on gel content and chromophores formed; and (4) incomplete shielding of curing-generated chromophores. A summary is given for the limited number of accelerated lifetime testing efforts and examples of erroneous service lifetime predictions for EVA are discussed. The known factors that effect the discoloration rate of several EVA formulations are discussed in which the reduction in rate by using UV-absorbing superstrates is a prime example. A summary is given of what is and is not known about EVA degradation mechanisms, degradation from exposures in field-deployed modeules and/or laboratory testing, and factors that contribute to EVA stability or degradation. Finally, conclusions about using Elvax 150 in EVA formulations are summarized, and future prospects for developing the next-generation pottant for encapsulating PV modules are discussed.     

具有随机丢包的网络化多自主体系统的一致性

研究具有随机丢包的网络化多自主体系统的均方一致性问题,其中不同自主体间的通信通道具有相同的丢包情况并且均服从马尔可夫(Markov)分布。首先,利用系统变换和迭代方法,得到了系统达到均方一致的一个初等充要条件。然后,利用矩阵理论和图论知识,如果拓扑图含有有向生成树,则可以将系统的均方一致性转化成一个线性Markov跳变系统的均方稳定性,并且可以建立线性矩阵不等式形式的均方可镇定准则。最后,通过相应的仿真实例说明了所得结论的可行性。     

Nitrous oxide emission from upland crops and crop-soil systems in northeastern China

Although it is known that crops can directly emit N₂O, their contribution to the total N₂O emission from crop-soil systems under field conditions is not well understood. This study was conducted to study the contribution of crops to total N₂O emission from soybean-soil and maize-soil systems in northeastern China. The effects of N fertilization on N₂O emission and NO ₃ ⁻ -N concentration in plants were also studied. The emission from crop-soil systems was measured with the closed chamber method, whereas the direct emission from crops was measured with the soil surface-sealed method. The addition of fertilizer N significantly increased the NO ₃ ⁻ -N concentration in crops and enhanced the N₂O emission from crop-soil systems and from crops alone. The amount of N₂O emitted directly from soybean plants accounted for 6 to 11% of the total soybean-soil emission. Similarly, the amount of N₂O emitted directly from maize plants accounted for 8.5 to 16% of the total maize-soil emission. The proportion of the applied N lost through direct N₂O emission from plants ranged from 0.19 to 0.34%, whereas the proportion of the applied N lost through N₂O emission from the crop-soil system ranged from 1.1 to1.9%. These results suggest that the use of chambers that do not include plants may lead to an underestimation of the total N₂O emission from crop-soil systems. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evaporative light scattering mass detection for high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of sucrose polyester blends in cooking oils

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described to determine the sucrose polyester (SPE) content in seven blends of cooking oils. Four gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) columns were used in series with an evaporative light scattering mass detector to separate the SPE from the acylglycerols in the final chromatogram. The SPE fraction was collected off the GPC column and injected onto a reverse-phase C-18 column for quantitation with sucrose octaacetate as an internal standard and a gradient of nonaqueous solvents as mobile phase. The chromatograms were interference-free, with only two sharp peaks appearing. The standards were linear from 500 to 5000 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient of r=0.999. The mean percent recovery (n=9) and standard deviation were 102±6.7. The detector could detect amounts as low as 5 μg SPE.     

Alkaline fuel cells: contemporary advancement and limitations

ZeTek Power recently introduced mass manufacturable and cost effective alkaline fuel cells on the market. Today's research is focused on further improvement both in terms of performance increase and cost reduction. This research is classically performed using small (4 cm²) experimental electrodes in the half-cell configuration. This allows the primary electrochemical losses in an anode or cathode to be determined independently. Additional performance losses occur when one integrates large electrodes into a module of 24 cells and in a stack comprised of many modules. By comparing the performance of half-cell experiments to that of modules, these losses can be distinguished and addressed. The information thus obtained, both for the small electrodes and in up-scaling is vital if one is to identify the key areas in which improvement is possible and where to focus future research. Furthermore, the identification of the losses in a module and system allows us to predict the final performance from half-cell measurements of a new laboratory scale experimental electrode.