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At least 685 records · Page 38

Plasmon mediated coherent population oscillations in molecular aggregates

The strong coherent coupling of quantum emitters to vacuum fluctuations of the light field offers opportunities for manipulating the optical and transport properties of nanomaterials, with potential applications ranging from ultrasensitive all-optical switching to creating polariton condensates. Often, ubiquitous decoherence processes at ambient conditions limit these couplings to such short time scales that the quantum dynamics of the interacting system remains elusive. Prominent examples are strongly coupled exciton-plasmon systems, which, so far, have mostly been investigated by linear optical spectroscopy. Here, we use ultrafast two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy to probe the quantum dynamics of J-aggregate excitons collectively coupled to the spatially structured plasmonic fields of a gold nanoslit array. We observe rich coherent Rabi oscillation dynamics reflecting a plasmon-driven coherent exciton population transfer over mesoscopic distances at room temperature. This opens up new opportunities to manipulate the coherent transport of matter excitations by coupling to vacuum fields.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Upstreamness and downstreamness in input–output analysis from local and aggregate information

Abstract Ranking sectors and countries within global value chains is of paramount importance to estimate risks and forecast growth in large economies. However, this task is often non-trivial due to the lack of complete and accurate information on the flows of money and goods between sectors and countries, which are encoded in input–output (I–O) tables. In this work, we show that an accurate estimation of the role played by sectors and countries in supply chain networks can be achieved without full knowledge of the I–O tables, but only relying on local and aggregate information, e.g., the total intermediate demand per sector. Our method, based on a rank-1 approximation to the I–O table, shows consistently good performance in reconstructing rankings (i.e., upstreamness and downstreamness measures for countries and sectors) when tested on empirical data from the world input–output database. Moreover, we connect the accuracy of our approximate framework with the spectral properties of the I–O tables, which ordinarily exhibit relatively large spectral gaps. Our approach provides a fast and analytically tractable framework to rank constituents of a complex economy without the need of matrix inversions and the knowledge of finer intersectorial details.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Improving the efficiencies of small molecule solar cells by solvent vapor annealing to enhance J-aggregation

Here, we report highly efficient small molecule organic solar cells (SM-OSCs) based on a porphyrin derivative electron donor of ZnP2-DPP and an electron acceptor of [6,6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 60 BM) by using a solvent vapor annealing (SVA) method with a series of low boiling solvents. Absorption spectral studies indicate that carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) SVA induces J-aggregation in blend films accompanied by expanded and enhanced absorption which contributes largely to the fabrication of broader light response and larger short-circuit current (J SC ) solar cell devices. In addition, we systematically analyze the relationship between the film morphology and device performance. Finally, the electronic study shows that the CS 2 SVA-treated device showed a higher exciton generation rate and enhanced carrier collection efficiency. And the morphology study indicates that the blend films treated with CS2 SVA exhibit tighter molecular packing, better crystallization and an appropriate phase separation length scale. In other words, these collective electronic and morphological features correlate well with the champion J SC , the fill factor (FF) and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the CS 2 treated devices.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Aggregation kinetics of detonation nanocarbon

We analyze here the properties of diffusion-limited coagulation and associated energy release applicable to processes such as nanocarbon production in detonation or nanoaerosols growth. We introduce a physical model that yields the expected energy release by treating the aggregation kinetics as a quasi phase transformation with a nonlinear rate dependent on the size of the initial nuclei, thermodynamic conditions, and viscosity of the fluid matrix.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Ultrafast fluorescent decay induced by metal-mediated dipole–dipole interaction in two-dimensional molecular aggregates

Two-dimensional molecular aggregate (2DMA), a thin sheet of strongly interacting dipole molecules self-assembled at close distance on an ordered lattice, is a fascinating fluorescent material. It is distinctively different from the conventional (single or colloidal) dye molecules and quantum dots. Here, in this paper, we verify that when a 2DMA is placed at a nanometric distance from a metallic substrate, the strong and coherent interaction between the dipoles inside the 2DMA dominates its fluorescent decay at a picosecond timescale. Our streak-camera lifetime measurement and interacting lattice–dipole calculation reveal that the metal-mediated dipole–dipole interaction shortens the fluorescent lifetime to about one-half and increases the energy dissipation rate by 10 times that expected from the noninteracting single-dipole picture. In conclusion, our finding can enrich our understanding of nanoscale energy transfer in molecular excitonic systems and may designate a unique direction for developing fast and efficient optoelectronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Inner Approximation of Minkowski Sums: A Union-Based Approach and Applications to Aggregated Energy Resources: Preprint

This paper develops and compares algorithms to compute the inner approximation of Minkowski sum of convex polytopes. We consider flexibility from distributed re- sources, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters, demand side resources, etc. A polytopic representation of a single inverter's feasible operating region is proposed first. The aggregate flexibility can be computed using the Minkowski sum. Homothet and Zonotope-based approaches have been explored in literature. We show that as heterogeneity increases, such approaches lead to conservative estimates. Hence, we show how to exploit union-based Minkowski sum computation through successive homothetic decomposition of polytopes. While the union-based approach can lead to dimensionality issues, we show how to limit the complexity by predefining a candidate set. Efficiency, accuracy and trade-offs have been analyzed. Numerical examples have been presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Scaling Irregular Applications through Data Aggregation and Software Multithreading

Bioinformatics, data analytics, semantic databases, knowledge discovery are emerging high performance application areas that exploit dynamic, linked data structures such as graphs, unbalanced trees or unstructured grids. These data structures usually are very large, requiring significantly more memory than available on single shared memory systems. Additionally, these data structures are difficult to partition on distributed memory systems. They also present poor spatial and temporal locality, thus generating unpredictable memory and network accesses. The Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) programming model seems suitable for these applications, because it allows using a shared memory abstraction across distributed-memory clusters. However, current PGAS languages and libraries are built to target regular remote data accesses and block transfers. Furthermore, they usually rely on the Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD) parallel control model, which is not well suited to the fine grained, dynamic and unbalanced parallelism of irregular applications. In this paper we present {\bf GMT} (Global Memory and Threading library), a custom runtime library that enables efficient execution of irregular applications on commodity clusters. GMT integrates a PGAS data substrate with simple fork/join parallelism and provides automatic load balancing on a per node basis. It implements multi-level aggregation and lightweight multithreading to maximize memory and network bandwidth with fine-grained data accesses and tolerate long data access latencies. A key innovation in the GMT runtime is its thread specialization (workers, helpers and communication threads) that realize the overall functionality. We compare our approach with other PGAS models, such as UPC running using GASNet, and hand-optimized MPI code on a set of typical large-scale irregular applications, demonstrating speedups of an order of magnitude.

Aggregation↗

Network-Cognizant Time-Coupled Aggregate Flexibility of Distribution Systems Under Uncertainties

Increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) within distribution feeders provides unprecedented flexibility at the distribution-transmission interconnection. To exploit this flexibility and to use the capacity potential of aggregate DERs, feasible substation power injection trajectories need to be efficiently characterized. This paper provides an ellipsoidal inner approximation of the set of feasible power injection trajectories at the substation such that for any point in the set, there exists a feasible disaggregation strategy of DERs for any load uncertainty realization. The problem is formulated as one of finding the robust maximum volume ellipsoid inside the flexibility region under uncertainty. Though the problem is NP-hard even in the deterministic case, this paper derives novel approximations of the resulting adaptive robust optimization problem based on optimal second-stage policies. The proposed approach yields less conservative flexibility characterization than existing flexibility region approximation formulations. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated on a realistic distribution feeder.

adaptive robust optimization↗

An Efficient Power Flexibility Aggregation Framework via Coordinate Transformation and Chebyshev Centering Optimization

The large-scale integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) converts the role of a distribution system from a customer to a prosumer. In this context, the controllable DERs are expected to provide capacity support for the transmission system, which can be considered as power flexibility aggregation. Specifically, it is a process of controlling the power output of DERs to fulfill the desired capacity or flexibility. However, the power output of DERs as control variables is redundant. That is, a power flexibility command can be realized by multiple dispatch alternatives, which may hinder efficient design of control rules and flexibility evaluation schemes. Therefore, this paper introduces a conception of the artificial power flexibility controller to avoid the redundancy issue, which is a converted control variable after reconstructing the DER power region. Through this reconstruction, the DERs can be indirectly controlled by the proposed artificial power flexibility controller. In addition, a Chebyshev centering optimization model is developed to approximate the power flexibility region. At last, the proposed method is verified on an artificially-designed network with multiple DERs.

Chebyshev centering optimization↗

Alerga: Alert Aggregation and Reasoning in GOOSE Simulation Pipeline

IEC 61850 specifies the Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) protocol as one option for low latency communication of substation-related events. Due to its strict timing requirements, GOOSE lacks any form of encryption or authentication and has only minimal integrity guarantees. These absences render the protocol vulnerable to a variety of communication anomalies, including adversarial action. In particular, an adversary with access to the substation network can launch man in the middle (MITM) attacks. We propose Alerga, a set of tools to allow operators to mitigate some of the risks of the protocol while retaining its strengths. To that end, we have developed first a GOOSE simulation pipeline including data generation, anomaly detection, alert handling, causal reasoning and data visualization components. The simulator is designed to be modular, allowing operators to swap components to better fit their network capabilities. The volume of alert traffic on a substation network threatens operators with alert fatigue. In order to combat this, we secondly present a novel form of alert aggregation and processing, offering operators a condensed view of any threats to the system. Thirdly, to facilitate the handling of these threats, our causal reasoning system traces the alerts back to their most likely cause, generating an initial hypothesis for operators to investigate.

alert aggregation↗

Analysis of Solar Energy Aggregation Under Various Billing Mechanisms

Ongoing reductions in the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are driving increased installations by residential households. Various incentive programs such as feed-in tariff, net metering, net purchase, and sale that allow the prosumers to sell their generated electricity to the grid are also powering this trend. In this paper, we investigate sharing of PV systems among a community of households, who can also benefit further by pooling their production. Using cooperative game theory, we find conditions under which such sharing decreases their net total cost. We also develop allocation rules such that the joint net electricity consumption cost is allocated to the participants. These cost allocations are based on the cost causation principle. The allocations also satisfy the standalone cost principle and promote PV solar aggregation. Here, we also perform a comparative analytical study on the benefit of sharing under the mechanisms favorable for sharing, namely net metering, and net purchase and sale. The results are illustrated in a case study using real consumption data from a residential community in Austin, TX, USA.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Evaluation of Aggregated EV Flexibility With TSO-DSO Coordination

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming a promising source of grid ancillary services due to the temporal and spatial charging flexibility, quick response and storage capability. Such advantages are increasing with government policy promotion and technology improvement. However, the exploration of EV flexibility requires the coordination of both transmission system operators (TSOs) and distribution system operators (DSOs), to ensure the safe and reliable operation of power network. In this paper, we propose a coordinated evaluation method that determines the optimal utilization of EV temporal flexibility without compromising EV owners’ usage. At the distribution level, DSOs first evaluate EV aggregators’ operational boundaries to exploit distribution level services. At the transmission level, TSOs then determine EV charging schedules and ancillary service capacity simultaneously, taking into account the requirement from DSOs. Here, we validate the model in a case study using the IEEE 123 node test feeder and EV charging sessions obtained from a transportation simulation tool that uses real-world data.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Multi-Factor-Coupled, Ahead-of-Time Aggregation of Power Flexibility Under Forecast Uncertainty

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) is significantly reshaping the role of distribution systems under active energy management. To aggregate the active-reactive power flexibility of DERs dispersed at the feeder and provide capacity support to the transmission system, it is essential to efficiently identify feasible substation power injection trajectories. This paper introduces a novel ahead-of-time flexibility characterization method to address it. First, a polyhedral non-feeder-level power flexibility region (PFR) is constructed, accounting for various time-dependent, power-coupled, and forecast error uncertainties. Then, a polyhedral feeder-level PFR is analytically derived through a coordinate transformation, which can reveal the uncertainty propagation path, i.e., how uncertainty applies to the feeder-level PFR. To facilitate the high-level application, a tractable chance-constrained Chebyshev centering optimization model is further developed to find a ball-shaped inner approximation of the feeder-level PFR. Finally, the proposed method is validated on a modified IEEE 123-bus test system. Here, both theoretical and experimental results show that, with appropriate robustness parameter settings, the proposed method can make the approximated PFR less conservative with abundant robustness against forecast error uncertainty.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Imaging Chemical Aggregation of Ni/NiO Particles from Reduced NiO-YSZ

Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping of nickel oxide yttria-stabilized zirconia (NiO-YSZ) was carried out after various hydrogen reducing and methane steam reforming conditions. Nickel aggregation was visualized after methane steam reforming by correlating Ni K{sub {alpha}} map with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images. From the reduced O K{sub {alpha}} intensities in the Ni K{sub {alpha}} dominated regions after methane steam reforming, NiO reduction in to Ni can be interpreted. From correlation between Zr K{sub {alpha}} and O K{sub {alpha}} maps, high stability of YSZ was also realized. Examples of NiO-YSZ overlapped particles are considered to discuss chemical imaging of a single particle.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Capillary Break Beneath a Slab: Polyethylene Sheeting over Aggregate; Southwestern Pennsylvania (Fact Sheet)

This document provides content for three areas of the Building America Solution Center. First, "Insulating Closed Crawlspace Walls and Band Joist Area" describes how to install rigid foam insulation on the interior perimeter walls and band joist area in closed crawlspace foundations of homes. Second, "Removing Construction Debris from Flexible Ducts" describes how to clean flexible ducts after construction or major renovation of a home to remove debris resulting from building materials, particularly airborne dust and particulates. Third, images, CAD drawings, and a case study illustrate right and wrong ways to apply polyethylene sheeting over aggregate. Similarly, a CAD drawing is included that illustrates the use of a concrete slab over polyethylene.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Evaluating the Potential for Marine and Hydrokinetic Devices to Act as Artificial Reefs or Fish Aggregating Devices. Based on Analysis of Surrogates in Tropical, Subtropical, and Temperate U.S. West Coast and Hawaiian Coastal Waters

Wave energy converters (WECs) and tidal energy converters (TECs) are only beginning to be deployed along the U.S. West Coast and in Hawai‘i, and a better understanding of their ecological effects on fish, particularly on special-status fish (e.g., threatened and endangered) is needed to facilitate project design and environmental permitting. The structures of WECs and TECs placed on to the seabed, such as anchors and foundations, may function as artificial reefs that attract reef-associated fishes, while the midwater and surface structures, such as mooring lines, buoys, and wave or tidal power devices, may function as fish aggregating devices (FADs), forming the nuclei for groups of fishes. Little is known about the potential for WECs and TECs to function as artificial reefs and FADs in coastal waters of the U.S. West Coast and Hawai‘i. We evaluated these potential ecological interactions by reviewing relevant information about fish associations with surrogate structures, such as artificial reefs, natural reefs, kelps, floating debris, oil and gas platforms, marine debris, anchored FADs deployed to enhance fishing opportunities, net-cages used for mariculture, and piers and docks. Based on our review, we postulate that the structures of WECs and TECs placed on or near the seabed in coastal waters of the U.S. West Coast and Hawai‘i likely will function as small-scale artificial reefs and attract potentially high densities of reef-associated fishes (including special-status rockfish species [Sebastes spp.] along the mainland), and that the midwater and surface structures of WECs placed in the tropical waters of Hawai‘i likely will function as de facto FADs with species assemblages varying by distance from shore and deployment depth. Along the U.S. West Coast, frequent associations with midwater and surface structures may be less likely: juvenile, semipelagic, kelp-associated rockfishes may occur at midwater and surface structures of WECs in coastal waters of southern California to Washington, and occasional, seasonal, or transitory associations of coastal pelagic fishes such as jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) may also occur at WECs in these waters. Importantly, our review indicated that negative effects of WEC structures on special-status fish species, such as increased predation of juvenile salmonids or rockfishes, are not likely. In addition, WECs installed in coastal California, especially in southern California waters, have the potential to attract high densities of reef-associated fishes and may even contribute to rockfish productivity, if fish respond to the WECs similarly to oil and gas platforms, which have some of the highest secondary production per unit area of seafloor of any marine habitat studied globally (Claisse et al. 2014). We encountered some information gaps, owing to the paucity or lack, in key locations, of comparable surrogate structures in which fish assemblages and ecological interactions were studied. TECs are most likely to be used in the Puget Sound area, but suitable surrogates are lacking there. However, in similarly cold-temperate waters of Europe and Maine, benthopelagic fish occurred around tidal turbines during lower tidal velocities, and this type of interaction may be expected by similar species at TECs in Puget Sound. To address information gaps in the near term, such as whether WECs would function as FADs in temperate waters, studies of navigation buoys using hydroacoustics are recommended.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Reproducibility and Variability of I/O Performance on BG/Q: Lessons Learned from a Data Aggregation Algorithm

Reading and writing data efficiently from different tiers of storage is necessary for most scientific simulations to achieve good performance at scale. Many software solutions have been developed to decrease the I/O bottleneck. One wellknown strategy, in the context of collective I/O operations, is the two-phase I/O scheme. This strategy consists of selecting a subset of processes to aggregate contiguous pieces of data before performing reads/writes. In our previous work, we implemented the two-phase I/O scheme with a MPI-based topology-aware algorithm. Our algorithm showed very good performance at scale compared to the standard I/O libraries such as POSIX I/O and MPI I/O. However, the algorithm had several limitations hindering a satisfying reproducibility of our experiments. In this paper, we extend our work by 1) identifying the obstacles we face to reproduce our experiments and 2) discovering solutions that reduce the unpredictability of our results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Community Choice Aggregation: Challenges, Opportunities, and Impacts on Renewable Energy Markets

Community choice aggregations (CCAs) are local governmental entities that procure electricity on behalf of retail electricity customers within some geographic area. CCAs are expanding in seven states that allow CCAs through enabling legislation. In 2017, we estimate that about 750 CCAs procured about 42 million MWh of electricity on behalf of about 5 million customers in 2017. In this report, we seek to summarize the current status of CCAs in the United States. We quantify CCA sales and customer bases in terms of both renewable and non-renewable energy. We summarize trends in CCA renewable energy power procurement. Based on 12 interviews with CCAs and other stakeholders, we identify key factors that could improve or reduce the potential of CCAs to support renewable energy markets. Last, we identify the challenges created and faced by the expansion of CCAs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗