Development of room temperature operating single electron transistor using FIB etching and deposition technology

The single-electron transistor (SET) is one of the best candidates for future nano electronic circuits because of its ultralow power consumption, small size and unique functionality. SET devices operate on the principle of Coulomb blockade, which is more prominent at dimensions of a few nano meters. Typically, the SET device consists of two capacitively coupled ultra-small tunnel junctions with a nano island between them. In order to observe the Coulomb blockade effects in a SET device the charging energy of the device has to be greater that the thermal energy. This condition limits the operation of most of the existing SET devices to cryogenic temperatures. Room temperature operation of SET devices requires sub-10nm nano-islands due to the inverse dependence of charging energy on the radius of the conducting nano-island. Fabrication of sub-10nm structures using lithography processes is still a technological challenge. In the present investigation, Focused Ion Beam based etch and deposition technology is used to fabricate single electron transistors devices operating at room temperature. The SET device incorporates an array of tungsten nano-islands with an average diameter of 8nm. The fabricated devices are characterized at room temperature and clear Coulomb blockade and Coulomb oscillations are observed. An improvement in the resolution limitation of the FIB etching process is demonstrated by optimizing the thickness of the active layer. SET devices with structural and topological variation are developed to explore their impact on the behavior of the device. The threshold voltage of the device was minimized to ~500mV by minimizing the source-drain gap of the device to 17nm. Vertical source and drain terminals are fabricated to realize single-dot based SET device. A unique process flow is developed to fabricate Si dot based SET devices for better gate controllability in the device characteristic. The device vi parameters of the fabricated devices are extracted by using a conductance model. Finally, characteristic of these devices are validated with the simulated data from theoretical modeling.

The effect of demand, tank parameters, and pumping stations on energy use in municipal drinking water distribution systems

Two of the indicators of the UN Millennium Development Goals ensuring environmental sustainability are energy use and per capita carbon dioxide emissions. The increasing urbanization and increasing world population may require increased energy use in order to transport enough safe drinking water to communities. In addition, the increase in water use would result in increased energy consumption, thereby resulting in increased green-house gas emissions that promote global climate change. The study of multiple Municipal Drinking Water Distribution Systems (MDWDSs) that relates various MDWDS aspects--system components and properties--to energy use is strongly desirable. The understanding of the relationship between system aspects and energy use aids in energy-efficient design. In this study, components of a MDWDS, and/or the characteristics associated with the component are termed as MDWDS aspects (hereafter--system aspects). There are many aspects of MDWDSs that affect the energy usage. Three system aspects (1) system-wide water demand, (2) storage tank parameters, and (3) pumping stations were analyzed in this study. The study involved seven MDWDSs to understand the relationship between the above-mentioned system aspects in relation with energy use. A MDWDSs model, EPANET 2.0, was utilized to analyze the seven systems. Six of the systems were real and one was a hypothetical system. The study presented here is unique in its statistical approach using seven municipal water distribution systems. The first system aspect studied was system-wide water demand. The analysis involved analyzing seven systems for the variation of water demand and its impact on energy use. To quantify the effects of water use reduction on energy use in a municipal water distribution system, the seven systems were modeled and the energy usage quantified for various amounts of water conservation. It was found that the effect of water conservation on energy use was linear for all seven systems and that all the average values of all the systems' energy use plotted on the same line with a high R 2 value. From this relationship, it can be ascertained that a 20% reduction in water demand results in approximately a 13% savings in energy use for all seven systems analyzed. This figure might hold true for many similar systems that are dominated by pumping and not gravity driven. The second system aspect analyzed was storage tank(s) parameters. Various tank parameters: (1) tank maximum water levels, (2) tank elevation, and (3) tank diameter were considered in this part of the study. MDWDSs use a significant amount of electrical energy for the pumping of water from low elevations (usually a source) to higher ones (usually storage tanks). The use of electrical energy has an effect on pollution emissions and, therefore, potential global climate change as well. Various values of these tank parameters were modeled on seven MDWDSs of various sizes using a network solver and the energy usage recorded. It was found that when averaged over all seven analyzed systems (1) the reduction of maximum tank water level by 50% results in a 2% energy reduction, (2) energy use for a change in tank elevation is system specific, and (2) a reduction of tank diameter of 50% results in approximately a 7% energy savings. The third system aspect analyzed in this study was pumping station parameters. A pumping station consists of one or more pumps. The seven systems were analyzed to understand the effect of the variation of pump horsepower and the number of booster stations on energy use. It was found that adding booster stations could save energy depending upon the system characteristics. For systems with flat topography, a single main pumping station was found to use less energy. In systems with a higher-elevation neighborhood, however, one or more booster pumps with a reduced main pumping station capacity used less energy. The energy savings for the seven systems was dependent on the number of boosters and ranged from 5% to 66% for the analyzed five systems with higher elevation neighborhoods (S3, S4, S5, S6, and S7). No energy savings was realized for the remaining two flat topography systems, S1, and S2. The present study analyzed and established the relationship between various system aspects and energy use in seven MDWDSs. This aids in estimating the amount of energy savings in MDWDSs. This energy savings would ultimately help reduce Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions including per capita CO 2 emissions thereby potentially lowering the global climate change effect. This will in turn contribute to meeting the MDG of ensuring environmental sustainability.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECOCAR 3 PROPOSAL AND GUIDELINES FOR MODELING AND DESIGN IN YEAR ONE OF ECOCAR 3

This report summarizes the work done for the Vehicle Powertrain Modeling and Design Problem Proposal portion of the EcoCAR3 proposal as specified in the Request for Proposal from Argonne National Laboratory. The results of the modeling exercises presented in the proposal showed that: An average conventional vehicle powered by a combustion engine could not meet the energy consumption target when the engine was sized to meet the acceleration target, due the relatively low thermal efficiency of the spark ignition engine. A battery electric vehicle could not meet the required range target of 320 km while keeping the vehicle weight below the gross vehicle weight rating of 2000 kg. This was due to the low energy density of the batteries which necessitated a large, and heavy, battery pack to provide enough energy to meet the range target. A series hybrid electric vehicle has the potential to meet the acceleration and energy consumption parameters when the components are optimally sized. A parallel hybrid electric vehicle has less energy conversion losses than a series hybrid electric vehicle which results in greater overall efficiency, lower energy consumption, and less emissions. For EcoCAR3, Michigan Tech proposes to develop a plug-in parallel hybrid vehicle (PPHEV) powered by a small Diesel engine operating on B20 Bio-Diesel fuel. This architecture was chosen over other options due to its compact design, lower cost, and its ability to provide performance levels and energy efficiency that meet or exceed the design targets. While this powertrain configuration requires a more complex control system and strategy than others, the student engineering team at Michigan Tech has significant recent experience with this architecture and has confidence that it will perform well in the events planned for the EcoCAR3 competition.

EXTRACTION OF PICTORIAL ENERGY INFORMATION FROM CAMPUS UNMETERED BUILDINGS USING IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

In recent years, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) has been the main research focus due to the traditional power grid has been restricted to meet development requirements. There has been an ongoing effort to increase the number of AMI devices that provide real-time data readings to improve system observability. Deployed AMI across distribution secondary networks provides load and consumption information for individual households which can improve grid management. Significant upgrade costs associated with retrofitting existing meters with network-capable sensing can be made more economical by using image processing methods to extract usage information from images of the existing meters. This thesis presents a new solution that uses online data exchange of power consumption information to a cloud server without modifying the existing electromechanical analog meters. In this framework, application of a systematic approach to extract energy data from images replaces the manual reading process. One case study illustrates the digital imaging approach is compared to the averages determined by visual readings over a one-month period.

Energy: the Next Fifty Years

Energy is basic to human society, like food, shelter, communication, and mobility. A new international energy landscape is emerging as developing countries create their energy infrastructures and as energy technologies move away from fossil toward more sustainable sources and uses. The 50-year time scale for significant change to the energy landscape implies that the strategic research and development choices we make now ill determine future energy and societal outcomes. The promising opportunities for science and technology discovery and development in energy will be analyzed in the context of vibrant, interactive and rapidly advancing national and global societies.

Marginalization of the Youth – a Current Societal Development?

The last two years a discussion on reforming the public sector has emerged. At its very heart we find important concepts like ‘quality reform’, ‘democracy’, and ‘development’. Recently I have presented an example of the ‘quality reform’ in SocMag, and this leads me to prolong that discussion on central themes on welfare state and democracy. Much energy is invested in arguing about management of the public sector: Do we need more competition from private companies? Do we need more control? Are more contracts concerning outcome needed? Can we be sure about the accountability needed from politicians? How much documentation, effectiveness measurement, bureaucracy, and evidence-based policy and practice are we looking for? A number of interesting questions – but strange enough we do not discuss the purpose of ‘keeping a welfare state’. What sort of understanding is lying behind the welfare state, and what kind of democracy are we drawing upon?

Energy and weight reduction in hoisting systems with magnetic traction sheaves

At the Chair of Logistics Engineering, TU Dresden, a particular focus is research and development of magnetic traction sheaves. Therein the main fundamentals of these special sheaves are determined for applications in different fields such as elevators, several kinds of winches, hoists and cranes. In the current research project “energy balance of magnetic traction sheaves”, the dynamic behaviour of systems with magnetic traction sheaves was investigated. The research focused on theoretical and practical examinations of energy balance. Moreover, a new approach for dimensioning magnetic traction sheave systems is presented. It is a project of the Research Foundation Intralogistics / Material Handling and Logistics (IFL), which is funded through the AiF under the program of Industrial Collective Research for SMEs (IGF) by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi).

Development and validation of GT3X accelerometer cut-off points in 5- to 9-year-old children based on indirect calorimetry measurements

The ActiGraph accelerometer is commonly used to measure physical activity in children. Count cut-off points are needed when using accelerometer data to determine the time a person spent in moderate or vigorous physical activity. For the GT3X accelerometer no cut-off points for young children have been published yet. The aim of the current study was thus to develop and validate count cut-off points for young children. Thirty-two children aged 5 to 9 years performed four locomotor and four play activities. Activity classification into the light-, moderate- or vigorous-intensity category was based on energy expenditure measurements with indirect calorimetry. Vertical axis as well as vector magnitude cut-off points were determined through receiver operating characteristic curve analyses with the data of two thirds of the study group and validated with the data of the remaining third. The vertical axis cut-off points were 133 counts per 5 sec for moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), 193 counts for vigorous activity (VPA) corresponding to a metabolic threshold of 5 MET and 233 for VPA corresponding to 6 MET. The vector magnitude cut-off points were 246 counts per 5 sec for MVPA, 316 counts for VPA - 5 MET and 381 counts for VPA - 6 MET. When validated, the current cut-off points generally showed high recognition rates for each category, high sensitivity and specificity values and moderate agreement in terms of the Kappa statistic. These results were similar for vertical axis and vector magnitude cut-off points. The current cut-off points adequately reflect MVPA and VPA in young children. Cut-off points based on vector magnitude counts did not appear to reflect the intensity categories better than cut-off points based on vertical axis counts alone.

Cardiolipin biosynthesis and remodeling enzymes are altered during development of heart failure.

Cardiolipin (CL) is responsible for modulation of activities of various enzymes involved in oxidative phosphorylation. Although energy production decreases in heart failure (HF), regulation of cardiolipin during HF development is unknown. Enzymes involved in cardiac cardiolipin synthesis and remodeling were studied in spontaneously hypertensive HF (SHHF) rats, explanted hearts from human HF patients, and nonfailing Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The biosynthetic enzymes cytidinediphosphatediacylglycerol synthetase (CDS), phosphatidylglycerolphosphate synthase (PGPS) and cardiolipin synthase (CLS) were investigated. Mitochondrial CDS activity and CDS-1 mRNA increased in HF whereas CDS-2 mRNA in SHHF and humans, not in SD rats, decreased. PGPS activity, but not mRNA, increased in SHHF. CLS activity and mRNA decreased in SHHF, but mRNA was not significantly altered in humans. Cardiolipin remodeling enzymes, monolysocardiolipin acyltransferase (MLCL AT) and tafazzin, showed variable changes during HF. MLCL AT activity increased in SHHF. Tafazzin mRNA decreased in SHHF and human HF, but not in SD rats. The gene expression of acyl-CoA: lysocardiolipin acyltransferase-1, an endoplasmic reticulum MLCL AT, remained unaltered in SHHF rats. The results provide mechanisms whereby both cardiolipin biosynthesis and remodeling are altered during HF. Increases in CDS-1, PGPS, and MLCL AT suggest compensatory mechanisms during the development of HF. Human and SD data imply that similar trends may occur in human HF, but not during nonpathological aging, consistent with previous cardiolipin studies.

Development of nuclear emulsions with 1 μm spatial resolution for the AEgIS experiment

The main goal of the AEgIS experiment at CERN is to test the weak equivalence principle for antimatter. We will measure the Earth ' s gravitational acceleration g with antihydrogen atoms being launched in a horizontal vacuum tube and traversing a moiré de fl ectometer. We intend to use a position sensitive device made of nuclear emulsions (combined with a time-of- fl ight detector such as silicon μ strips) to measure precisely their annihilation points at the end of the tube. The goal is to determine g with a 1% relative accuracy. In 2012 we tested emulsion fi lms in vacuum and at room temperature with low energy antiprotons from the CERN antiproton decelerator. First results on the expected performance for AEgIS are presented

Household Hardships, Public Programs, and Their Associations with the Health and Development of Very Young Children: Insights from Children’s HealthWatch

America’s low-income families struggle to protect their children from multiple threats to their health and growth. Many research and advocacy groups explore the health and educational effects of food insecurity, but less is known about these effects on very young children. Children’s HealthWatch, a group of pediatric clinicians and public health researchers, has continuously collected data on the effects of food insecurity alone and in conjunction with other household hardships since 1998. The group’s peer reviewed research has shown that a number of economic risks at the household level, including food, housing and energy insecurity, tend to be correlated. These insecurities alone or in conjunction increase the risk that a young child will suffer various negative health consequences, including increases in lifetime hospitalizations, parental report of fair or poor health,1 or risk for developmental delays.2 Child food insecurity is an incremental risk indicator above and beyond the risk imposed by household-level food insecurity. The Children’sHealthwatch research also suggests public benefits programs modify some of these effects for families experiencing hardships. This empirical evidence is presented in a variety of public venues outside the usual scientific settings, such as congressional hearings, to support the needs of America’s most vulnerable population through policy change. Children’s HealthWatch research supports legislative solutions to food insecurity, including sustained funding for public programs and re-evaluation of the use of the Thrifty Food Plan as the basis of SNAP benefits calculations. Children’s HealthWatch is one of many models to support the American Academy of Pediatrics’ call to “stand up, speak up, and step up for children.”3 No isolated group or single intervention will solve child poverty or multiple hardships. However, working collaboratively each group has a role to play in supporting the health and well-being of young children and their families. 1. Cook JT, Frank DA, Berkowitz C, et al. Food insecurity is associated with adverse health outcomes among human infants and toddlers. J Nutr. 2004;134:1432-1438. 2. Rose-Jacobs R, Black MM, Casey PH, et al. Household food insecurity: associations with at-risk infant and toddler development. Pediatrics. 2008;121:65-72. 3. AAP leader says to stand up, speak up, and step up for child health [news release]. Boston, MA: American Academy of Pediatrics; October 11, 2008. http://www2.aap.org/pressroom/nce/nce08childhealth.htm. Accessed January 1, 2012.

Up-Scaling Sustainable Pro-Poor Energy Solutions: Addressing Stumbling Blocks

The session aims at analyzing efforts in up-scaling cleaner and more efficient energy solutions for poor people in developing countries by addressing the following questions: What are factors along the whole value chain and in the institutional, social, but also environmental space that enable up-scaling of improved pro-poor technologies? Are there differences between energy carriers or in different contexts? What are most promising entry points for up-scaling?

Human NR5A1/SF-1 mutations show decreased activity on BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), an important regulator of energy balance: testing impact of novel SF-1 mutations beyond steroidogenesis

CONTEXT Human NR5A1/SF-1 mutations cause 46,XY disorder of sex development (DSD) with broad phenotypic variability, and rarely cause adrenal insufficiency although SF-1 is an important transcription factor for many genes involved in steroidogenesis. In addition, the Sf-1 knockout mouse develops obesity with age. Obesity might be mediated through Sf-1 regulating activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), an important regulator of energy balance in the ventromedial hypothalamus. OBJECTIVE To characterize novel SF-1 gene variants in 4 families, clinical, genetic and functional studies were performed with respect to steroidogenesis and energy balance. PATIENTS 5 patients with 46,XY DSD were found to harbor NR5A1/SF-1 mutations including 2 novel variations. One patient harboring a novel mutation also suffered from adrenal insufficiency. METHODS SF-1 mutations were studied in cell systems (HEK293, JEG3) for impact on transcription of genes involved in steroidogenesis (CYP11A1, CYP17A1, HSD3B2) and in energy balance (BDNF). BDNF regulation by SF-1 was studied by promoter assays (JEG3). RESULTS Two novel NR5A1/SF-1 mutations (Glu7Stop, His408Profs*159) were confirmed. Glu7Stop is the 4th reported SF-1 mutation causing DSD and adrenal insufficiency. In vitro studies revealed that transcription of the BDNF gene is regulated by SF-1, and that mutant SF-1 decreased BDNF promoter activation (similar to steroid enzyme promoters). However, clinical data from 16 subjects carrying SF-1 mutations showed normal birth weight and BMI. CONCLUSIONS Glu7Stop and His408Profs*159 are novel SF-1 mutations identified in patients with 46,XY DSD and adrenal insufficiency (Glu7Stop). In vitro, SF-1 mutations affect not only steroidogenesis but also transcription of BDNF which is involved in energy balance. However, in contrast to mice, consequences on weight were not found in humans with SF-1 mutations.

Development of a balanced experimental–computational approach to understanding the mechanics of proximal femur fractures

The majority of people who sustain hip fractures after a fall to the side would not have been identified using current screening techniques such as areal bone mineral density. Identifying them, however, is essential so that appropriate pharmacological or lifestyle interventions can be implemented. A protocol, demonstrated on a single specimen, is introduced, comprising the following components; in vitro biofidelic drop tower testing of a proximal femur; high-speed image analysis through digital image correlation; detailed accounting of the energy present during the drop tower test; organ level finite element simulations of the drop tower test; micro level finite element simulations of critical volumes of interest in the trabecular bone. Fracture in the femoral specimen initiated in the superior part of the neck. Measured fracture load was 3760 N, compared to 4871 N predicted based on the finite element analysis. Digital image correlation showed compressive surface strains as high as 7.1% prior to fracture. Voxel level results were consistent with high-speed video data and helped identify hidden local structural weaknesses. We found using a drop tower test protocol that a femoral neck fracture can be created with a fall velocity and energy representative of a sideways fall from standing. Additionally, we found that the nested explicit finite element method used allowed us to identify local structural weaknesses associated with femur fracture initiation.