A 4 GHz non-resonant clock driver with inductor-assisted energy return to power grid

Power consumption of a multi-GHz local clock driver is reduced by returning energy stored in the clock-tree load capacitance back to the on-chip power-distribution grid. We call this type of return energy recycling. To achieve a nearly square clock waveform, the energy is transferred in a non-resonant way using an on-chip inductor in a configuration resembling a full-bridge DC-DC converter. A zero-voltage switching technique is implemented in the clock driver to reduce dynamic power loss associated with the high switching frequencies. A prototype implemented in 90 nm CMOS shows a power savings of 35% at 4 GHz. The area needed for the inductor in this new clock driver is about 6% of a local clock region. © 2006 IEEE.

Model structure and uncertainty for stochastic non-point source modelling applications

The uncertainty associated with a rainfall-runoff and non-point source loading (NPS) model can be attributed to both the parameterization and model structure. An interesting implication of the areal nature of NPS models is the direct relationship between model structure (i.e. sub-watershed size) and sample size for the parameterization of spatial data. The approach of this research is to find structural limitations in scale for the use of the conceptual NPS model, then examine the scales at which suitable stochastic depictions of key parameter sets can be generated. The overlapping regions are optimal (and possibly the only suitable regions) for conducting meaningful stochastic analysis with a given NPS model. Previous work has sought to find optimal scales for deterministic analysis (where, in fact, calibration can be adjusted to compensate for sub-optimal scale selection); however, analysis of stochastic suitability and uncertainty associated with both the conceptual model and the parameter set, as presented here, is novel; as is the strategy of delineating a watershed based on the uncertainty distribution. The results of this paper demonstrate a narrow range of acceptable model structure for stochastic analysis in the chosen NPS model. In the case examined, the uncertainties associated with parameterization and parameter sensitivity are shown to be outweighed in significance by those resulting from structural and conceptual decisions. © 2011 Copyright IAHS Press.

The use of energy in China: Tracing the flow of energy from primary source to demand drivers

We present a map of the transformation of energy in China as a Sankey diagram. After a review of previous work, and a statement of methodology, our main work has been the identification, evaluation, and treatment of appropriate data sources. This data is used to construct the Sankey diagram, in which flows of energy are traced from energy sources through end-use conversion devices, passive systems and final services to demand drivers. The resulting diagram provides a convenient and clear snapshot of existing energy transformations in China which can usefully be compared with a similar global analysis and which emphasises the potential for improvements in energy efficiency in 'passive systems'. More broadly, it gives a basis for examining and communicating future energy scenarios, including changes to demand, changes to the supply mix, changes in efficiency and alternative provision of existing services. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

A probabilistic energy model for non-domestic building sectors applied to analysis of school buildings in greater London

The diversity of non-domestic buildings at urban scale poses a number of difficulties to develop models for large scale analysis of the stock. This research proposes a probabilistic, engineering-based, bottom-up model to address these issues. In a recent study we classified London's non-domestic buildings based on the service they provide, such as offices, retail premise, and schools, and proposed the creation of one probabilistic representational model per building type. This paper investigates techniques for the development of such models. The representational model is a statistical surrogate of a dynamic energy simulation (ES) model. We first identify the main parameters affecting energy consumption in a particular building sector/type by using sampling-based global sensitivity analysis methods, and then generate statistical surrogate models of the dynamic ES model within the dominant model parameters. Given a sample of actual energy consumption for that sector, we use the surrogate model to infer the distribution of model parameters by inverse analysis. The inferred distributions of input parameters are able to quantify the relative benefits of alternative energy saving measures on an entire building sector with requisite quantification of uncertainties. Secondary school buildings are used for illustrating the application of this probabilistic method. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Superconducting magnetic bearings for energy storage flywheels

We are investigating the use of flywheels for energy storage. Flywheel devices need to be of high efficiency and an important source of losses is the bearings. In addition, the requirement is for the devices to have long lifetimes with minimal or no maintenance. Conventional rolling element bearings can and have been used, but a non-contact bearing, such as a superconducting magnetic bearing, is expected to have a longer lifetime and lower losses. At Cambridge we have constructed a flywheel system. Designed to run in vacuum this incorporates a 40kg flywheel supported on superconducting magnetic bearings. The production device will be a 5kW device storing 5 kWh of retrievable energy at 50,000 rpm. The Cambridge system is being developed in parallel with a similar device supported on a conventional bearing. This will allow direct performance comparisons. Although superconducting bearings are increasingly well understood, of major importance are the cryogenics and special attention is being paid to methods of packaging and insulating the superconductors to cut down radiation losses. The work reported here is part of a three-year program of work supported by the EPSRC. © 1999 IEEE.

Shock propagation and MPT noise from a transonic rotor in non-uniform flow

One of the major challenges in hig4h-speed fan stages used in compact, embedded propulsion systems is inlet distortion noise. A body-force-based approach for the prediction of multiple-pure-tone (MPT) noise was previously introduced and validated. In this paper, it is employed with the objective of quantifying the effects of non-uniform flow on the generation and propagation of MPT noise. First-of-their-kind back-to-back coupled aero-acoustic computations were carried out using the new approach for conventional and serpentine inlets. Both inlets delivered flow to the same NASA/GE R4 fan rotor at equal corrected mass flow rates. Although the source strength at the fan is increased by 45 dB in sound power level due to the non-uniform inflow, farfield noise for the serpentine inlet duct is increased on average by only 3.1 dBA overall sound pressure level in the forward arc. This is due to the redistribution of acoustic energy to frequencies below 11 times the shaft frequency and the apparent cut-off of tones at higher frequencies including blade-passing tones. The circumferential extent of the inlet swirl distortion at the fan was found to be 2 blade pitches, or 1/11th of the circumference, suggesting a relationship between the circumferential extent of the inlet distortion and the apparent cut-off frequency perceived in the far field. A first-principles-based model of the generation of shock waves from a transonic rotor in non-uniform flow showed that the effects of non-uniform flow on acoustic wave propagation, which cannot be captured by the simplified model, are more dominant than those of inlet flow distortion on source noise. It demonstrated that non-linear, coupled aerodynamic and aeroacoustic computations, such as those presented in this paper, are necessary to assess the propagation through non-uniform mean flow. A parametric study of serpentine inlet designs is underway to quantify these propagation effects. Copyright © 2011 by ASME.

The mechanism of energy loss and transition in a flow with submerged vegetation

The mechanism of energy balance in an open-channel flow with submerged vegetation was investigated. The energy borrowed from the local flow, energy spending caused by vegetation drag and flow resistance, and energy transition along the water depth were calculated on the basis of the computational results of velocity and Reynolds stress. Further analysis showed that the energy spending in a cross-section was a maximum around the top of the vegetation, and its value decreased progressively until reaching zero at the flume bed or water surface. The energy borrowed from the local flow in the vegetated region could not provide for spending; therefore, surplus borrowed energy in the non-vegetated region was transmitted to the vegetated region. In addition, the total energy transition in the cross-section was zero; therefore, the total energy borrowed from the flow balanced the energy loss in the whole cross-section. At the same time, we found that there were three effects of vegetation on the flow: turbulence restriction due to vegetation, turbulence source due to vegetation and energy transference due to vegetation, where the second effect was the strongest one. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CO2H2O and energy exchange of an Inner Mongolia steppe ecosystem during a dry and wet year

We used an eddy covariance technique to measure evapotranspiration and carbon flux over two very different growing seasons for a typical steppe on the Inner Mongolia Plateau, China. The rainfall during the 2004 growing season (344.7 mm) was close to the annual average (350.43 mm). In contrast, precipitation during the 2005 growing season was significantly lower than average (only 126 mm). The wet 2004 growing season had a higher peak evapotranspiration (4 mm day(-1)) than did the dry 2005 growing season (3.3 mm day(-1)). In 2004, latent heat flux was mainly a consumption resource for net radiation, accounting for similar to 46% of net radiation. However, sensible heat flux dominated the energy budget over the whole growing season in 2005, accounting for 60% of net radiation. The evaporative rate (LE/R-n) dropped by a factor of four from the non-soil stress to soil water limiting conditions. Maximum half-hourly CO2 uptake was -0.68 mg m(-2) s(-1) and maximum ecosystem exchange was 4.3 g CO2 m(-2) day(-1) in 2004. The 2005 drought growing stage had a maximum CO2 exchange value of only -0.22 mg m(-2) s(-1) and a continuous positive integrated-daily CO2 flux over the entire growing season, i.e. the ecosystem became a net carbon source. Soil respiration was temperature dependent when the soil was under non-limiting soil moisture conditions, but this response declined with soil water stress. Water availability and a high vapor pressure deficit severely limited carbon fixing of this ecosystem; thus, during the growing season, the capacity to fix CO2 was closely related to both timing and frequency of rainfall events. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

粘弹性介质中的地震波传播与波形反演研究

The real earth is far away from an ideal elastic ball. The movement of structures or fluid and scattering of thin-layer would inevitably affect seismic wave propagation, which is demonstrated mainly as energy nongeometrical attenuation. Today, most of theoretical researches and applications take the assumption that all media studied are fully elastic. Ignoring the viscoelastic property would, in some circumstances, lead to amplitude and phase distortion, which will indirectly affect extraction of traveltime and waveform we use in imaging and inversion. In order to investigate the response of seismic wave propagation and improve the imaging and inversion quality in complex media, we need not only consider into attenuation of the real media but also implement it by means of efficient numerical methods and imaging techniques. As for numerical modeling, most widely used methods, such as finite difference, finite element and pseudospectral algorithms, have difficulty in dealing with problem of simultaneously improving accuracy and efficiency in computation. To partially overcome this difficulty, this paper devises a matrix differentiator method and an optimal convolutional differentiator method based on staggered-grid Fourier pseudospectral differentiation, and a staggered-grid optimal Shannon singular kernel convolutional differentiator by function distribution theory, which then are used to study seismic wave propagation in viscoelastic media. Results through comparisons and accuracy analysis demonstrate that optimal convolutional differentiator methods can solve well the incompatibility between accuracy and efficiency, and are almost twice more accurate than the same-length finite difference. They can efficiently reduce dispersion and provide high-precision waveform data. On the basis of frequency-domain wavefield modeling, we discuss how to directly solve linear equations and point out that when compared to the time-domain methods, frequency-domain methods would be more convenient to handle the multi-source problem and be much easier to incorporate medium attenuation. We also prove the equivalence of the time- and frequency-domain methods by using numerical tests when assumptions with non-relaxation modulus and quality factor are made, and analyze the reason that causes waveform difference. In frequency-domain waveform inversion, experiments have been conducted with transmission, crosshole and reflection data. By using the relation between media scales and characteristic frequencies, we analyze the capacity of the frequency-domain sequential inversion method in anti-noising and dealing with non-uniqueness of nonlinear optimization. In crosshole experiments, we find the main sources of inversion error and figure out how incorrect quality factor would affect inverted results. When dealing with surface reflection data, several frequencies have been chosen with optimal frequency selection strategy, with which we use to carry out sequential and simultaneous inversions to verify how important low frequency data are to the inverted results and the functionality of simultaneous inversion in anti-noising. Finally, I come with some conclusions about the whole work I have done in this dissertation and discuss detailly the existing and would-be problems in it. I also point out the possible directions and theories we should go and deepen, which, to some extent, would provide a helpful reference to researchers who are interested in seismic wave propagation and imaging in complex media.

Human marrow mesenchymal stem Cells (MSCs) in the peplated non-adherent cell population serve as a complementary source of osteogenic cells

To obtain enough quantity of osteogenic cells is a challenge for successful cell therapy in bone defect treatment, and cell numbers were usually achieved by culturing bone marrow cells in a relatively long duration. This study reported a simple and cost effective method to enhance the number of MSCs by collecting and replating the non-adherent cell population of marrow MSCs culture. Bone marrow MSCs were isolated from 11 patients, cultured at a density of 1×105/cm2 to 1×106/cm2 in flasks. For the first three times of media change, the floating cells were centrifuged and replated in separate flasks. The total number of cells in both the primary and replating flasks were counted at day 21. Cell proliferation rate, potentials for osteogenic, chondrognenic, and adipogenic differentiation were examined in both cell types in vitro. In-vivo osteogenic potentials of the cells were also tested in mice implantation model. The results showed that MSCs derived from non-adherent cell population of marrow cell cultures have similar cell proliferation and differentiation potentials as the originally attached MSCs in vitro. When implanted with HA-TCP materials subcutaneously in SCID mice, newly formed bony tissues were found in both cell type groups with osteocalcin expression. We have obtained 36.6% (20.70%-44.97%) more MSCs in the same culture period when the non-adherent cell populations were collected. The findings confirmed that the non-adherent cell population in the bone marrow culture is a complementary source of MSCs, collecting these cells is a simple and cost-effective way to increase MSCs numbers and reduce the time required for culturing MSCs for clinical applications.

Resting energy expenditure in non-ventilated, non-sedated patients recovering from serious traumatic brain injury: Comparison of prediction equations with indirect calorimetry values

Background & aims: Little is known about energy requirements in brain injured (TBI) patients, despite evidence suggesting adequate nutritional support can improve clinical outcomes. The study aim was to compare predicted energy requirements with measured resting energy expenditure (REE) values, in patients recovering from TBI.

Methods: Indirect calorimetry (IC) was used to measure REE in 45 patients with TBI. Predicted energy requirements were determined using FAO/WHO/UNU and Harris–Benedict (HB) equations. Bland– Altman and regression analysis were used for analysis.

Results: One-hundred and sixty-seven successful measurements were recorded in patients with TBI. At an individual level, both equations predicted REE poorly. The mean of the differences of standardised areas of measured REE and FAO/WHO/UNU was near zero (9 kcal) but the variation in both directions was substantial (range 591 to þ573 kcal). Similarly, the differences of areas of measured REE and HB demonstrated a mean of 1.9 kcal and range 568 to þ571 kcal. Glasgow coma score, patient status, weight and body temperature were signi?cant predictors of measured REE (p < 0.001; R²⁼ 0.47).

Conclusions: Clinical equations are poor predictors of measured REE in patients with TBI. The variability in REE is substantial. Clinicians should be aware of the limitations of prediction equations when estimating energy requirements in TBI patients.