Parametric studies of the effects of slip irreversibility in concentrating solar power (CSP)-powered bio-digester assemblies are investigated. Complexities regarding the identification of the appropriate electro-kinetic phenomena for certain electrolyte phases are reviewed. The application of exergy analysis to the design of energy conversion devices, like solar thermal collectors, for the requ...

In this work a thick interface model is proposed in order to describe the photothermal signal perturbation introduced by grain interfaces. The validity of the model is discussed based upon photothermal reflectance microscopy results obtained on Fe sintered samples. A comparison with the thermal resistance model, which is valid only in the case of thin interfaces, is also presented.

A fundamental understanding of the thermal effects on nanofluid behaviors is critical for developing and designing innovative thermally responsive nanodevices. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and experiment, we investigate the temperature-dependent intrusion/adsorption of water molecules into hydrophobic nanopores (carbon nanotubes and nanoporous carbon) and the underlying mechanisms. ...

We compute the pressure of a finite-density quark-gluon plasma at zero temperature to leading order in hard-thermal-loop perturbation theory, which includes the fermionic excitations and Landau damping. The result is compared with the weak-coupling expansion for finite positive chemical potential &mgr; through order alpha(2)(s) and with a quasiparticle model with a mass depending on &mgr;.

I briefly introduce the methods by which lattice QCD predictions for RHIC are obtained. Next I deal with lattice determinations of strangeness production and event-to-event fluctuations of conserved quantities. I also present a new diagrammatic method for computing derivatives with respect to chemical potentials, and conclude with discussions of some tests of thermal perturbation theory which f...

Phonons are quantized lattice vibrations and the major heat carriers in most crystalline materials. We have been utilizing femtosecond phonon spectroscopy to excite and detect optical coherent phonons (CPs) in various materials. However, the impact of CPs to overall thermal transport is still unknown. In this study, we developed a small perturbation model in MD to simulate CPs and investigate t...

For thermal systems, standard perturbation theory breaks down because of the absence of stable, observable asymptotic states. We show, how the introduction of statistical quasi-particles (stable, but not observable) gives rise to a consistent description. Statistical and spectral information can be cleanly separated also for interacting systems.

The pristine crystalline type-I, type-II, and type-VIII silicon clathrates have been studied using state of the art first-principles calculations based on density functional theory and density functional perturbation theory. We apply quasi-harmonic approximation to study structural stability, the possibility of temperature or pressuredriven phase transitions, along with Grüneisen parameters, co...

ABsTRAcr Thc intermediate-wavelength geoid (A #)oo km) and sea-fbor topography fields in the central Pacific Ocean have been studied in terms of static and dynamic compensation models. Topographic fcatures on the sea-floor with As lo00 km haw been found to be wmpcnsatcd both regionally, by thc elastic strength of the lithosphere, and locally, by displacing mantle material to reach isostatic adj...

The extratropical circulation response to cooling of the polar-winter stratosphere in a simple AGCM is investigated. The AGCM is a dry hydrostatic primitive equation model with zonally symmetric boundary conditions and analytically specified physics. It is found that, as the polar-winter stratosphere is cooled, the tropospheric jet shifts poleward. This response projects almost entirely and pos...