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Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N(2)O) have increased significantly since pre-industrial times owing to anthropogenic perturbation of the global nitrogen cycle, with animal production being one of the main contributors. Grasslands cover about 20 per cent of the temperate land surface of the Earth and are widely used as pasture. It has been suggested that high animal stocking rates and the resulting elevated nitrogen input increase N(2)O emissions. Internationally agreed methods to upscale the effect of increased livestock numbers on N(2)O emissions are based directly on per capita nitrogen inputs. However, measurements of grassland N(2)O fluxes are often performed over short time periods, with low time resolution and mostly during the growing season. In consequence, our understanding of the daily and seasonal dynamics of grassland N(2)O fluxes remains limited. Here we report year-round N(2)O flux measurements with high and low temporal resolution at ten steppe grassland sites in Inner Mongolia, China. We show that short-lived pulses of N(2)O emission during spring thaw dominate the annual N(2)O budget at our study sites. The N(2)O emission pulses are highest in ungrazed steppe and decrease with increasing stocking rate, suggesting that grazing decreases rather than increases N(2)O emissions. Our results show that the stimulatory effect of higher stocking rates on nitrogen cycling and, hence, on N(2)O emission is more than offset by the effects of a parallel reduction in microbial biomass, inorganic nitrogen production and wintertime water retention. By neglecting these freeze-thaw interactions, existing approaches may have systematically overestimated N(2)O emissions over the last century for semi-arid, cool temperate grasslands by up to 72 per cent.

This paper reports on laboratory studies into the ac impedance spectra of nickel–metal hydride and nickel–cadmium batteries, aiming at finding out possible correlation between electrical parameters, extracted directly from the high frequency region, and the battery state-of-charge (SoC). Impedance diagrams were recorded immediately after interrupting the dc charge, or discharge, current. The study revealed that the series resonance frequency, at which the dynamic cell behavior switches from an inductive character (Z″>0) to a capacitive one (Z″<0), varied monotonously as a function of state-of-charge. This behavior was reproducible after intermittent charge and discharge. Half-cell measurements were also conducted to associate the cell impedance with either processes occurring at the positive or negative plates.

Abstract Every day and innumerably, road vehicles of different types pass flat roadside-placed elements like stable or temporary traffic signs, noise barriers, charge devices, etc. The elements are exposed to a vehicle-specific flow and pressure field, i.e. to transient loads. In order to quantify the involved phenomena, full-scale experiments were performed for six different vehicle types and three sizes of square plates, which were aligned in three different configurations with respect to the vehicle׳s track. For the measurement of loads effecting the plate, the pressure multi-tapping technique was implemented with high temporal and spatial resolution. The experiments delivered a broad database for the proper quantification of vehicle induced loads on flat elements as a function of vehicle type, vehicle velocity and passing distance to the plate, element size as well as spatial plate alignment with respect to the vehicle.

With the recent advancements in power electronics for wind turbines (WTs) and increasing penetration of wind energy, wind power plants (WPP) have become necessary contributors of reactive power support for the bulk power system. Balancing reactive power support with individual WT operating requirements in a cost-effective manner is a challenge for WPP designers. In this paper, we present a methodology to optimize the WPP reactive power capability as seen from the point of common coupling (PCC), accounting for steady-state operating capabilities of the WPP equipment. Thus, the proposed methodology determines the configuration of the tap-changing transformers within the WPP that maximizes the amount of reactive power the WPP can either consume or inject to the network, considering uncertain levels of wind power generation and voltage magnitudes at the PCC. The optimized reactive power capability (ORPC) problem is initially formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. Then, a set of efficient linearization techniques are used to obtain a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that can be solved via off-the-shelf mathematical programming solvers. Results demonstrate that the proposed MILP model is a scalable, flexible and accurate method to maximize the reactive power capability of WPP.

Abstract A variety of novel, recyclable and reusable, construction materials has already been studied within literature during the past years, aiming at improving the overall energy efficiency ranking of the building envelope. However, several studies show that a delicate control of indoor climating elements can lead to a significant performance improvement by exploiting the building’s savings potential via smart adaptive HVAC regulation to exogenous uncertain disturbances (e.g. weather, occupancy). Building Optimization and Control (BOC) systems can be categorized into two different groups: centralized (requiring high data transmission rates at a central node from every corner of the overall system) and decentralized 1 (assuming an intercommunication among neighboring constituent systems). Moreover, both approaches can be further divided into two subcategories, respectively: model-assisted (usually introducing modeling oversimplifications) and model-free (typically presenting poor stability and very slow convergence rates). This paper presents the application of a novel, decentralized, agent-based , model-free BOC methodology (abbreviated as L4GPCAO) to a modern non-residential building (E.ON. Energy Research Center’s main building), equipped with controllable HVAC systems and renewable energy sources by utilizing the existing Building Management System (BES). The building testbed is located inside the RWTH Aachen University campus in Aachen, Germany. A combined rule criterion composed of the non-renewable energy consumption (NREC) and the thermal comfort index – aligned to international comfort standards – was adopted in all cases presented herein. Besides the limited availability of the specified building testbed, real-life experiments demonstrated operational effectiveness of the proposed approach in BOC applications with complex, emerging dynamics arising from the building’s occupancy and thermal characteristics. L4GPCAO outperformed the control strategy that was designed by the planers and system provider, in a conventional manner, requiring no more than five test days.

We investigated the solid state reaction of 30-nm and 100-nm-thick silicide layers on single-crystalline silicon in the temperature range between 650 and 800°C using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Sheet resistance measurements were used to observe the effect of the reaction temperature on the layer properties and to perform a systematic study on the thermal stability. At the lower reaction temperature good quality layers were produced with quite small grains. The specific resistivity is as low as 15 μΩ cm and the interface to the silicon substrate is quite flat. These favourable properties lead to a high thermal stability. The processed layers are stable in the temperature range between 850 and 950°C. When the layer thickness is increased to 100 nm, the stability range extends by about 250°C. The deterioration rate of 30-nm and 100-nm-thick silicide layers was deduced from sheet resistance measurements. The activation energy for the electrical degradation of the layer due to layer agglomeration was found to be nearly independent of the thickness.

We present the determination of the alkaloid hordenine and its forensic relevance as a qualitative and quantitative marker for beer consumption. A simple, rapid and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method for the determination of hordenine in human serum samples was developed and validated. The application was tested with serum samples after enzymatic cleavage. After addition of the synthesized internal standard hordenine-D 4, a liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane and diethyl ether was performed. Chromatographic separation was conducted with a Waters Acquity® UPLC system with gradient elution on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5-μm particle size). For quantification, a Waters Acquity® TQ detector (version SNC 627) with a positive electrospray ionization probe and multiple reaction monitoring mode was used. A flow rate of 0.4 ml/min was applied. The retention time for both the analyte and the internal standard was 3.67 min. Linearity was demonstrated from 0.2 to 16 ng/ml (R(2) > 0.999). The lower limit of quantification was 0.3 ng/ml in serum. Matrix effects and extraction recoveries for low and high concentrations were within acceptable limits of 75-125% and 50%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge there is no corresponding method for the determination of hordenine by UPLC-MS/MS in serum. By our drinking studies we demonstrate that beer consumption leads to detectable hordenine concentrations in serum and observed a linear elimination of total hordenine correlating to blood alcohol concentration, which shows that hordenine can be used as a reliable qualitative and quantitative marker for beer consumption. The validated method was successfully applied to serum from actual forensic cases.

Planning the air-terminations for a structure to be protected the use of the rolling-sphere method (electro-geometrical model) is the best way from the physics of lightning point-of-view. Therefore, international standards prefer this method. However, using the rolling-sphere method only results in possible point-of-strikes on a structure without giving information about the probability of strikes at the individual points compared to others.

SummaryThe German government has adopted a law that requires sewage plants to go beyond the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater and to promote recycling. We argue that there is no physical global short‐ or mid‐term phosphorus scarcity. However, we also argue that there are legitimate reasons for policies such as those of Germany, including: precaution as a way to ensure future generations’ long‐term supply security, promotion of technologies for closed‐loop economics in a promising stage of technology development, and decrease in the current supply risk with a new resource pool.