Ein hardground am Top eines kalkigen Tempestits im Mittleren Kimmeridge auf dem Kalkrieser Berg (Nordwestdeutschland)

The tempestite origin of the upper part of the Zwischenbank (Mittelkimmeridge VII, Upper Jurassic) in the Kalkrieser Berg (Southwestern Lower Saxony) is explained by means of microlacial, paleontological and sedimentological analyses. At the top of the limestone, a hard ground was lormed and, at a later stage, exposed by erosion and then colonized;its environment was shallow marine nearshore. This is the lirst description of the origin of a German Jurassie hard ground s. s. and an Upper Jurassie calcareous tempestite.Anhand mikrolazieller, paläontologischer und sedimentologischer Untersuchungen wird die tempestitische Natur des oberen Teils der Zwischenbank (Mittelkimmeridge VII, Oberer Jura) am Kalkrieser Berg (SW-Niedersachsen) dargelegt. An der Oberkante der Kalkbank ist ein hardground ausgebildet, der erosiv Ireigelegt und anschließend besiedelt wurde. Das Milieu stellt sich als Ilachmarin und küsten nah dar. Die Arbeit ist die erste Beschreibung der Genese eines deutschen jurassischen hardgrounds s. s. und der erste Nachweis eines kalkigen oberjurassischen Tempestits

Optimizing Wind Power Hosting Capacity of Distribution Systems Using Cost Benefit Analysis

The penetration of wind power into the electricity grid is growing significantly. A significant portion of this wind power is being installed in distribution systems, of which most are passively operated. Under this operating practice, wind power can only be admitted based on minimum load and maximum generation consideration. This severely limits the wind power hosting capacity of the system. Hence, the use of active-management strategies (AMSs) has been proposed to increase the hosting capacity of distribution systems. This paper incorporates AMSs into two optimization models whose objectives are to maximize the net benefit of distribution system operator and wind farm owner, respectively. The AMSs considered are wind energy curtailment, coordinated on-load tap changer voltage control, and reactive power compensation. The models development is based on a typical medium-voltage distribution system in Sweden although it can easily be adapted to other cases. The application of the model to a distribution system in Sweden shows an increase in hosting capacity of the distribution system by 78% with mere 2.6% curtailed energy. That is, the hosting capacity of the distribution system has almost been doubled by using AMSs

Optimum Injection Current Waveform for a Laser Range Finder Based on the Self-Mixing Effect

In a self-mixing type laser range finder the current of the laser is modulated with a triangle wave to produce a range of optical frequencies. However, the electrical signal does not produce a perfect linear sweep in optical frequency due to thermal and other effects in the laser. This leads to errors in the accuracy and resolution of the range finder. In this paper, we describe and implement a method in software to systematically determine the optimal shape of the injected waveform needed to eliminate these thermally induced measurement errors. With this method we do not require the more complicated and expensive optical techniques used by other researchers to recover the optical frequency variations with regard to injection current. The averaging of a reasonable number of samples gave sub-millimeter accuracy when the optimal current shape was used. The uncertainty in the average measurements are improved by roughly six times compared to the conventional triangular modulation. The reshaping also results in the range finding system being less sensitive to changes in ambient temperature

Displacement and Distance Measurement using the Change in Junction Voltage Across a Laser Diode Due to the Self-Mixing Effect

The conventional self-mixing sensing systems employ a detection scheme utilizing the photocurrent from an integrated photodiode. This work reports on an alternative way of implementing a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) based self-mixing sensor using the laser junction voltage as the source of the self-mixing signal. We show that the same information can be obtained with only minor changes to the extraction circuitry leading to potential cost saving with reductions in component costs and complexity. The theoretical linkage between voltage and photocurrent within the self-mixing model is presented. Experiments using both photo current and voltage detection were carried out and the results obtained show good agreement with the theory. Similar error trends for both detection regimes were observed

Cultivation of Photosynthetic Bacteria Using Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

We present for the first time experimental results demonstrating the cultivation of photosynthetic microorganisms using laser light. The demonstrated efficiency of the laser source opens the possibility of designing small-scale, energy efficient, compact photobioreactors

On the analysis of the dc dynamics of multi-terminal VSC-HVDC systems using small signal modeling

In this paper, an analysis of the dc dynamics of multiterminal VSC-HVDC systems using the small signal modeling method is presented. Usually, the VSC controllers are designed under the consideration that they operate independently of each other. However, the possible interactions among them and the dc grid should be studied, especially in multi-terminal topologies. In this paper, three VSC-HVDC systems are modeled and, after linearization, the eigenvalues of the system are calculated for different loading conditions. The results from this analysis are compared to those obtained from more detailed models using PSCAD. It is shown that the operating point, the gains of the direct-voltage controller and the cable dynamics have an impact on the system performance

Diffuse reflectance imaging for non-melanoma skin cancer detection using laser feedback interferometry

We propose a compact, self-aligned, low-cost, and versatile infrared diffuse-reflectance laser imaging system using a laser feedback interferometry technique with possible applications in in vivo biological tissue imaging and skin cancer detection. We examine the proposed technique experimentally using a three-layer agar skin phantom. A cylindrical region with a scattering rate lower than that of the surrounding normal tissue was used as a model for a non-melanoma skin tumour. The same structure was implemented in a Monte Carlo computational model. The experimental results agree well with the Monte Carlo simulations validating the theoretical basis of the technique. Results prove the applicability of the proposed technique for biological tissue imaging, with the capability of depth sectioning and a penetration depth of well over 1.2 mm into the skin phantom

Divergent effects of liraglutide, exendin-4, and sitagliptin on beta-cell mass and indicators of pancreatitis in a mouse model of hyperglycaemia

AIMS:Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors improve glucose tolerance by still incompletely understood mechanisms. Each class of antihyperglycemic drugs has also been proposed to increase pancreatitis risk. Here, we compare systematically the effects of two widely-used GLP-1 analogues, liraglutide and exendin-4, and the DPP4 inhibitor, sitagliptin, in the mouse. METHODS:C57BL6 mice were maintained for 131 days on a normal diet (ND) or a diet comprising 60% fat (HFD) before measurements of fasting blood glucose and insulin, and intraperitoneal glucose tolerance. Beta- and alpha- cell volume, and Reg3b immunoreactivity, were measured by immunohistochemical analysis of pancreatic slices. RESULTS:Whereas liraglutide (200 µg/kg) and exendin-4 (10 µg/kg) treatment reduced body weight and/or improved glucose tolerance, sitagliptin (10 mg/kg) was without effect on either parameter. Liraglutide caused a sharp reduction in beta-cell mass in both ND and HFD mice, whereas exendin-4 exerted no effect. By contrast, sitagliptin unmasked an action of high fat diet to increase beta-cell mass. Reg3B positive area was augmented by all three agents in normal chow-fed mice, whilst sitagliptin and exendin-4, but not liraglutide, affected this parameter in HFD animals. Correspondingly sitagliptin, but not the GLP-1 analogues, increased circulating amylase levels in ND and HFD mice. CONCLUSIONS:Liraglutide improves glucose tolerance in the mouse whilst exerting relatively modest effects on pancreatitis risk. Conversely, exendin-4 and sitagliptin, at doses which exert, respectively, minor or no effects on metabolic parameters, lead to signs of pancreatitis

Temperature dependent high speed dynamics of terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Terahertz frequency quantum cascade lasers offer a potentially vast number of new applications. To better understand and apply these lasers, a device-specific modeling method was developed that realistically predicts optical output power under changing current drive and chip temperature. Model parameters are deduced from the self-consistent solution of a full set of rate equations, obtained from energy-balance Schro ̈dinger-Poisson scattering transport calculations. The model is thus derived from first principles, based on the device structure, and is therefore not a generic or phenomenological model that merely imitates expected device behavior. By fitting polynomials to data arrays representing the rate equation parameters, we are able to significantly condense the model, improving memory usage and computational efficiency

Measurement of the emission spectrum of a semiconductor laser using laser-feedback interferometry

The effects of optical feedback (OF) in lasers have been observed since the early days of laser development. While OF can result in undesirable and unpredictable operation in laser systems, it can also cause measurable perturbations to the operating parameters, which can be harnessed for metrological purposes. In this work we exploit this ‘self-mixing’ effect to infer the emission spectrum of a semiconductor laser using a laser-feedback interferometer, in which the terminal voltage of the laser is used to coherently sample the reinjected field. We demonstrate this approach using a terahertz frequency quantum cascade laser operating in both single- and multiple-longitudinal mode regimes, and are able to resolve spectral features not reliably resolved using traditional Fourier transform spectroscopy. We also investigate quantitatively the frequency perturbation of individual laser modes under OF, and find excellent agreement with predictions of the excess phase equation central to the theory of lasers under OF