Lyapunov's stability and operational margin of grid-connected photovoltaic modules

Analyses of photovoltaic power generation based on Lyapunov's theorems are presented. The characteristics of the photovoltaic module and the power conditioning unit are analyzed in order to establish energy functions that assess the stability of solutions and define safe regions of operation. Furthermore, it is shown that grid-connected photovoltaic modules driven at maximum power may become unstable under normal grid transients. In such cases, stability can be maintained by allowing an operational margin defined as the energy difference between the stable and the unstable solutions of the system. Simulations show that modules cope well with grid transients when a sufficiently large margin is used.

Accurate sodium bisulfite sequencing in plants.

DNA cytosine methylation is a conserved epigenetic modification frequently correlating with transcriptional silencing in a wide variety of eukaryotic organisms. Sodium bisulfite treatment of DNA converts unmethylated cytosine to uracil, while 5-methylated cytosine is protected. We describe techniques that ensure reliable sequencing data following sodium bisulfite conversion and to avoid common pitfalls such as amplification of unconverted DNA and inclusion of sibling clones.

Meiosis in flowering plants and other green organisms.

Sexual eukaryotes generate gametes using a specialized cell division called meiosis that serves both to halve the number of chromosomes and to reshuffle genetic variation present in the parent. The nature and mechanism of the meiotic cell division in plants and its effect on genetic variation are reviewed here. As flowers are the site of meiosis and fertilization in angiosperms, meiotic control will be considered within this developmental context. Finally, we review what is known about the control of meiosis in green algae and non-flowering land plants and discuss evolutionary transitions relating to meiosis that have occurred in the lineages giving rise to the angiosperms.

Grid-refined LES predictions for Fan-OGV broadband noise

This work forms part of a project on the use of large eddy simulation (LES) for broadband rotor-stator interaction noise prediction. In this paper, we focus on LES calculations of noise sources on and close to a blade trailing edge. We consider two test cases; one an isolated NACA0012 airfoil in flow, and the other an industry-standard rotating fan. In the first case, turbulent mean and RMS velocities and energy spectra at different locations are compared with those from experiment. 1,2The sound generated by the unsteady pressure fluctuations on the airfoil surface and by the flow turbulence will be predicted using a Ffowcs Williams Hawkings (FW-H) surface. In the second case, unsteady flow and acoustic fields around the blade passage 3 are presented for a refined mesh, and the rotor-stator tonal noise will be predicted by using the rotor-wake mean velocity profile and the methodology described in Lloyd & Peake 4. Copyright © 2009 by Qinling Li, Nigel Peake & Mark Savill.