Advanced Materials for Energy Storage

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 23-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel L. Trudeau
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Energy Storage ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Current Increase ◽  
Alternative Technologies ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Local Resources

As this MRS Bulletin issue on “Advanced Materials for Energy Storage” was being finalized, the North American continent suffered one of its warmest summers ever recorded. The past two to three years have also been the warmest on record, August 1999 being the 21st consecutive month with above-average temperatures. Such deviations could be quite natural. Indeed, these temperature increases can be explained in part by increased solar activity. Yet, burning of fossil fuels and other human factors are considered likely contributors. Whether from human activities or cosmic effects, for human survival, technological solutions may be needed to keep the global temperature within tolerable margins.In a parallel development, the price of oil on the New York market has nearly doubled since the beginning of 1999. This current increase is directly related to self-controls imposed by the oil-producing countries. The price will probably not climb to excessive values, mainly because the oil-producing countries do not want other nations to develop competitive alternative technologies. However, these increases in oil prices could have devastating effects on the general economy, and again, the future is unpredictable.This situation poses an interesting dilemma for the scientific community. Scientists are trained to base conclusions on facts and respond with appropriate engineering solutions. Yet the extrapolation of global climate change is far from conclusive; the economies of nations can be volatile and often are determined by politics as opposed to science; and the needs of individual nations are varied and continue to evolve based on their local resources, economies, and environmental regulations.

Vanishing Assets: Conservation Status of U.S. Species

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence L. Master ◽  
Lynn S. Kutner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Urban Markets ◽  
John James Audubon ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
European Colonization

“The air was literally filled with pigeons; the light of noonday was obscured as by an eclipse.” So observed John James Audubon, the eminent naturalist and bird artist, of a mass migration of passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) passing through Kentucky in 1813. For three days the pigeons poured out of the Northeast in search of forests bearing nuts and acorns. By Audubon’s estimate, the flock that passed overhead contained more than I billion birds, a number consistent with calculations made by other ornithologists. As the pigeons approached their roost, Audubon noted that the noise they made “reminded me of a hard gale at sea passing through the rigging of a close-reefed vessel.” Indeed, they were so numerous that by some accounts every other bird on the North American continent was probably a passenger pigeon at the time of European colonization (Schorger 1955). Yet despite this extraordinary abundance, barely 100 years later the last passenger pigeon, a female bird named Martha, died in the Cincinnati Zoo. The vast flocks of passenger pigeons moved around eastern North America, feeding mostly on the fruits of forest trees such as beechnuts and acorns. Two factors conspired to seal their fate. Because of their huge numbers, the birds were easy to hunt, especially at their roosting sites. Hunters were ingenious in developing increasingly efficient ways to slaughter the birds. Armed with sticks, guns, nets, or sulfur fires, hunters swept through the enormous roosting colonies, carting away what they could carry and feeding the remaining carcasses to their pigs. One of these methods, in which a decoy pigeon with its eyes sewn shut was attached to a perch, or stool, gave rise to the term stool pigeon. As the railroads expanded west, enormous numbers could be sent to major urban markets like New York, where pigeons became the cheapest meat available. They were so cheap and abundant that live birds were used as targets in shooting galleries. At the same time that this frontal assault on the pigeons was under way, human settlers were expanding into the interior of the country, clearing large areas of the forests on which the flocks depended for food.

scholarly journals XVII. Contributions to terrestrial magnetism. — No. VII

1846 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 237-336 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Magnetic Force ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
General View ◽  
Magnetic Survey ◽  
Terrestrial Magnetism ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Common Unit ◽  
The Moment

Containing a Magnetic Survey of a considerable portion of the North American Continent. From the moment that the fact was known, that the locality of the maximum of the magnetic Force in a hemisphere is not coincident, as was previously supposed, with the locality where the dip of the needle is 90°, researches in terrestrial magnetism assumed an interest and importance greatly exceeding that which they before pos­sessed; for it was obvious that the hypothesis which then generally prevailed regard­ing the distribution of the magnetic Force at the surface of the globe, and which had been based on a too-limited induction, was erroneous, and that even the broad out­ line of the general view of terrestrial magnetism had to be recast. The observations on which this discovery rested, (being those which I had had an opportunity of making in 1818, 1819 and 1820 within the Arctic Circle, and at New York in 1822,) were published in 1825*; they constituted, I may be permitted to say, an important feature in the views, which led the British Association in the year 1835 to request that a report should be prepared, in which the state of our knowledge in respect to the variations of the magnetic Force at different parts of the earth’s sur­face should be reviewed, and, as is customary in the reports presented to that very useful institution, that those measures should be pointed out which appeared most desirable for the advancement of this branch of science. In the maps attached to the report, the isodynamic lines on the surface of the globe were drawn simply in conformity with observations, and unmixed with hypothesis of any sort. The obser­vations collected for that purpose were not those of any particular individual or of any single nation, but embodied the results obtained by all persons who up to that period had taken part in such researches, subjected to such amount of discussion only as conveyed a knowledge of the modes of observation severally employed, and reduced the whole to a common unit.

THE SWEETCLOVER WEEVIL, SITONA CYLINDRICOLLIS FAHR.

1947 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Bird
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sweet Clover ◽  
American Continent ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Periodic Fluctuations

Farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have reported considerable losses of sweet clover from the attacks of a small, dark grey weevil, Sitona cylindricollis Fahr. This insect is widely distributed in central and southern Europe and occurs in Ireland, England, Germany and France. It is not known when it was first introduced to the North American continent. Brown (2) found it abundant in 1927 from Montreal, Que., to a point on the International Boundary near Hemmingford, Que., and the Canadian National Collection contains specimens taken at Hemmingford in 1924 and 1925. Brown also reports that this species, was very abundant in the Ottawa, Ont., district in 1928 and that he took it at Shediac, N. B., in 1939. Hyslop (6) wrote thal S. cylindricollis was first found in the United States in 1933 at Middlebury, Vt., and that it was collected at Storrs, Conn., Amherst, Mass., and on the New York side of Lake Champlain Valley. In 1935 Caesar (3) found it near Lindsay and Newmarket, Ont., where it war causing severe damage to sweet clover. It was first recorded in Manitoba in 1939 when a widespread infestation occurred. In 1940 it completely defoliated a field of sweet clover near Waldeck, Sask., and by 1943 it was abundant at Medicine Hat, Alta. Following this rapid spread through the continent it has shown periodic fluctuations. Severe damage occurred in Manitoba in 1939 and 1940. In 1941 and 1942 it was somewhat reduced, becomming severe again in 1943, 1944 and 1945.

scholarly journals Being Ourselves: Immigrant Culture and Self-Identification Among Young Haitians in Montréal

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Scooter Pégram
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Continent ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Immigration Legislation ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Immigrant Culture ◽  
Political Persecution ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

Since the early 1960s, large numbers of Haitians have emigrated from their native island nation. Changes in federal immigration legislation in the 1970s in both the United States and Canada enabled immigrants of colour a facilitated entry into the two countries, and this factor contributed to the arrival of Haitians to the North American continent. These newcomers primarily settled in cities along the eastern seaboard, in Boston, Miami, Montréal and New York. The initial motivator of this two-wave Haitian migration was the extreme political persecution that existed in Haiti under the iron-fisted rule of the Duvalier dictatorships and their secret police (popularly known as the “tontons macoutes”) over a thirty year period from the late 1950s to the mid 1980s.

scholarly journals Economic Feasibility of Using Solar Energy in the Production of Greenhouse Tomatoes

1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pritam S. Dhillon ◽  
Daniel Rossi
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Tomato Production ◽  
North Central ◽  
Greenhouse Tomato ◽  
The North ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Greenhouse Tomatoes

The energy crunch of the mid-seventies has adversely affected the greenhouse tomato industry in the North Central and Northeast regions. Traditionally, these two regions had been the main producers of greenhouse tomatoes in the U.S. where, because of the climatic restriction, greenhouse tomato production evolved to supply fresh tomatoes during winter and spring months. Since greenhouse producers in the north rely on fossil fuels for heating purposes, their production costs have escalated, thereby tending to price these tomatoes out of the market. In recent years many greenhouse tomato producers in the northern regions have either ceased production or switched into alternative enterprises. For instance, the Census of Agriculture reported 45 growers in Massachusetts in 1974, with covered areas of 535,842 square feet; by 1979, according to extension experts, the number declined to 25 and the area declined to between 150,000 and 200,000 square feet. The number of growers in New Jersey declined from 42 in the 1974 census to only 19 in 1979. Similar declines have occurred in New York and Pennsylvania.

Determination of Source Parameters for Central and Eastern North American Earthquakes (1982–1986)

1992 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. V. Nguyen ◽  
R. B. Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North American ◽  
Seismic Moment ◽  
Source Parameters ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
P Wave ◽  
American Continent ◽  
Large Aftershock ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North

Abstract A search technique is applied to determine focal mechanisms from the surface-wave spectral amplitudes of recent earthquakes in the eastern U. S. and Canada. The technique provides the five source parameters of dip, slip, strike, depth, and seismic moment through a combination of criteria requiring best correlation coefficients, least residuals between theoretical and observed spectral-amplitudes and equality between independent seismic moment estimates from Love and Rayleigh wave data. This technique is applied to eight earthquakes of mb ≈ 5 that occurred in the North American continent in recent years. The focal mechanism results, constrained by P-wave first motions, indicate that near horizontal pressure axes are in the ENE-WSW for the 1982 Miramichi, New Brunswick (Canada) mainshock and one large aftershock (another large aftershock has ESE-WNW P-axis), the 1982 Gaza, New Hampshire mainshock, the 1982 Arkansas mainshock, the 1983 Goodnow, New York mainshock, and the 1986 Perry, Ohio mainshock. On the other hand a near horizontal tension axis in the direction NNE-SSW is found for the 1984 Wyoming mainshock in the western part of North American continent. The results obtained are consistent with the regional stress patterns and generally agree with the solutions of other investigators who used other aspects of the seismic wavefield.

Failed Impressions: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in America, 1916

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Järvinen
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North American ◽  
New World ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
American Continent ◽  
North American Continent ◽  
The North ◽  
Ballets Russes ◽  
Vaslav Nijinsky

In 1916 the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929) took the Ballets Russes out of war-torn Europe for a tour across the North American continent. The tour was scheduled to run from January to April 1916, with short seasons in New York at the beginning and the end. As it turned out, the company returned for a second tour that ran from late September to January 1917, during which time, however, Diaghilev's former lover and principal star dancer, Vaslav Nijinsky (1889–1950), replaced him as director.In this article I discuss the cultural differences at the heart of the Ballets Russes' failure to conquer America in 1916–1917, and why that failure had to be edited out of history. Specifically, I look at three aspects of the publicity and critical reception: elitism, patriotism, and modernism. The publicists of the company both misunderstood and underestimated their audience, but in dance research, their prejudices have been taken for granted. The “eye-witness accounts” of Diaghilev's employees and the histories of the company written in the first half of the twentieth century have largely gone unquestioned since, but contemporary primary sources of the North American tours tell a different story. By contrasting the first tour with the second, which received less publicity and better reviews, I emphasize the practical experience of touring in the New World and how differently American critics evaluated the achievements of the two Russian directors of the company—Diaghilev (for the first tour) and Nijinsky (for the second).

scholarly journals A Metaheuristic Algorithm for Flexible Energy Storage Management in Residential Electricity Distribution Grids

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ovidiu Ivanov ◽  
Bogdan-Constantin Neagu ◽  
Gheorghe Grigoraș ◽  
Florina Scarlatache ◽  
Mihai Gavrilaș
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Real Distribution ◽  
Residential Electricity ◽  
Local Storage

The global climate change mitigation efforts have increased the efforts of national government to incentivize local households in adopting individual renewable energy as a mean to help reduce the usage of electricity generated using fossil fuels and to gain independence from the grid. Since the majority of residential generation is made by PV panels that generate electricity at off-peak hours, the optimal management of such installations often considers local storage that can defer the use of locally generated electricity at later times. On the other hand, the presence of distributed generation can affect negatively the operating conditions of low-voltage distribution networks. The energy stored in batteries located in optimal places in the network can be used by the utility to improve the operation of the network. This paper proposes a metaheuristic approach based on a Genetic Algorithm that considers three different scenarios of using energy storage for reducing the losses in the network. Prosumer and network operator priorities can be considered in different scenarios inside the same algorithm, to provide a comparative study of different priorities in storage placement. A case study performed on a real distribution network provides insightful results.

Mafias on the Move

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Varese
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
At Will

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

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