Search results for " Electricity"
showing 10 items of 197 documents
Leading the way toward fuel parity in photovoltaics: The utility-scale market in Sicily, Italy
2016
The global photovoltaic (PV) market has been growing exponentially since almost twenty years. This huge demand for photovoltaic systems has been mainly driven by public subsidies in the form of a variet y of national incentive schemes. However, in Countries where successful incentive schemes have been pioneered and are now – as planned - being brought to an end, the PV market is called to the challenge of surviving without any incentive to the end user. Grid and fuel-parity represent the keystone of this emerging new phase in the history of this renewable energy technology. In this paper we present a sensitivity analysis showing that in Sicily, Italy, the Levelized Cost of Energy from utili…
Functional linear regression with functional rensponse application to prediction of electricity consumption
2008
Functional linear regression model linking observations of a functional response variable with measurements of an explanatory functional variable is considered. The slope function is estimated with a tensor product splines. Some computational issues are addressed by means of a simulation study. This model serves to analyze a real data set concerning electricity consumption in Sardinia. The interest lies in predicting either incoming weekend or incoming weekdays consumption curves if actual weekdays consumption is known.
Enhanced detection of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes by AGILE
2015
Abstract At the end of March 2015 the onboard software configuration of the Astrorivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) satellite was modified in order to disable the veto signal of the anticoincidence shield for the minicalorimeter instrument. The motivation for such a change was the understanding that the dead time induced by the anticoincidence prevented the detection of a large fraction of Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes (TGFs). The configuration change was highly successful resulting in an increase of one order of magnitude in TGF detection rate. As expected, the largest fraction of the new events has short duration (<100 μs), and part of them has simultaneous association with light…
Evolutionary Design Optimization of an Alkaline Water Electrolysis Cell for Hydrogen Production
2020
Hydrogen is an excellent energy source for long-term storage and free of greenhouse gases. However, its high production cost remains an obstacle to its advancement. The two main parameters contributing to the high cost include the cost of electricity and the cost of initial financial investment. It is possible to reduce the latter by the optimization of system design and operation conditions, allowing the reduction of the cell voltage. Because the CAPEX (initial cost divided by total hydrogen production of the electrolyzer) decreases according to current density but the OPEX (operating cost depending on the cell voltage) increases depending on the current density, there exists an optimal cu…
Nonadiabatic transitions between lambda-doubling states in the capture of a diatomic molecule by an ion
2008
The low-energy capture of a dipolar diatomic molecule in an adiabatically isolated electronic state with a good quantum number Hund’s coupling case a by an ion occurs adiabatically with respect to rotational transitions of the diatom. However, the capture dynamics may be nonadiabatic with respect to transitions between the pair of the -doubling states belonging to the same value of the intrinsic angular momentum j. In this work, nonadiabatic transition probabilities are calculated which define the -doubling j-specific capture rate coefficients. It is shown that the transition from linear to quadratic Stark effect in the ion-dipole interaction, which damps the T �1/2 divergence of the captur…
Self-consistent continuum solvation (SCCS): the case of charged systems.
2013
The recently developed self-consistent continuum solvation model (SCCS) [O. Andreussi, I. Dabo, and N. Marzari, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 064102 (2012)] is applied here to charged species in aqueous solutions. Describing ions in solution represents a great challenge because of the large electrostatic interactions between the solute and the solvent. The SCCS model is tested over 106 monocharged species, both cations and anions, and we demonstrate its flexibility, notwithstanding its much reduced set of parameters, to describe charged species in solution. Remarkably low mean absolute errors are obtained with values of 2.27 and 5.54 kcal/mol for cations and anions, respectively. These results are co…
Long-ranged and soft interactions between charged colloidal particles induced by multivalent coions
2015
Forces between charged particles in aqueous solutions containing multivalent coions and monovalent counterions are studied by the colloidal probe technique. Here, the multivalent ions have the same charge as the particles, which must be contrasted to the frequently studied case where multivalent ions have the opposite sign as the substrate. In the present case, the forces remain repulsive and are dominated by the interactions of the double layers. The valence of the multivalent coion is found to have a profound influence on the shape of the force curve. While for monovalent coions the force profile is exponential down to separations of a few nanometers, the interaction is much softer and lo…
Baicalin and berberine ultradeformable vesicles as potential adjuvant in vitiligo therapy.
2018
0.5-1% of the world's population is affected by vitiligo, a disease characterized by a gradual depigmentation of the skin. Baicalin and berberine are natural compounds with beneficial activities, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and proliferative effects. These polyphenols could be useful for the treatment of vitiligo symptoms, and their efficacy can be improved by loading in suitable carriers. The aim of this work was to formulate and characterize baicalin or berberine loaded ultradeformable vesicles, and demonstrate their potential as adjuvants in the treatment of vitiligo. The vesicles were produced using a previously reported simple, scalable method. Their morphology, size distrib…
Synergistic behavior of poly(aspartic acid) and Pluronic F127 in aqueous solution as studied by viscometry and dynamic light scattering.
2012
Abstract Pluronic F127/poly(aspartic acid) mixtures were investigated in dilute solutions by viscometry and dynamic light scattering. The two polymers were chosen due to well known applications in biomedical field, taking into account the final purpose (the use of the complex structure as drug delivery systems). The central item was to identify the possibility of complexation between the poly(carboxylic acid) and a non-ionic polymer and to investigate the conditions of the interpolymer complex formation. The ability of Pluronic F127 to form micelle is well known. Poly(aspartic acid), as a polycarboxylic acid with resemblance with polyacrylic acid, can act as dispersant, antiscalant, superab…
In situ synthesis of lipopeptides as versatile receptors for the specific binding of nanoparticles and liposomes to solid-supported membranes.
2008
A detailed study of the in situ coupling of small peptides such as CGGH6 (H6) and CGWK8 (K8) to maleimide functionalized phospholipid bilayers is presented. Individually addressable microstructured membranes are employed to unequivocally probe the conjugation. The in situ coupling of peptides via a terminal cysteine moiety to maleimide functionalized phospholipids is shown to be a convenient and versatile way to selectively fabricate peptide-modified phospholipid bilayers serving as specific receptor platforms for functionalized vesicles and nanoparticles. Specific binding of functional vesicles to the peptide-modified bilayers is achieved by either histidine complexation with Ni-NTA-DOGS c…