We investigate the financial sources of small firms through a survey of sample firms from West Texas. Evidence shows that the two most common start-up financing alternatives are personal savings and commercial bank loans. Commercial banks remain the most popular source of financing for present...

This paper presents an experimental and analytical study on incorporation of thermoelectric modules with glass evacuated-tube heat-pipe solar collectors. The integrated solar heat-pipe/thermoelectric module (SHP-TE) can be used for combined water heating and electricity generation. The...

As a modified building-integrated solar thermal system, building-integrated dual-function solar collector here proposed is able to provide passive space heating in cold winter, and water heating in warm seasons. In this study, evaluations were made on this modified collector system for the warm...

In today’s rapidly changing environment, semiconductor manufacturers compete more in the area of modular production networks. However, the instability of semiconductor modular production networks can to a large extent lead to the failure of these networks. The aim of this paper is to discuss...

The existence of stationary Markov perfect equilibria in stochastic games is shown in several contexts under a general condition called "coarser transition kernels". These results include various earlier existence results on correlated equilibria, noisy stochastic games, stochastic games with...

Ambient temperature is a significant factor that influences the accuracy of battery SOC estimation, which is critical for remaining driving range prediction of electric vehicles (EVs) and optimal charge/discharge control of batteries. A widely used method to estimate SOC is based on an online...

As natural gas becomes increasingly important in our daily life, studies have been carried out on trace elements such as mercury and arsenic within it. Other than those, the existence of radioactive gaseous radon from the combustion of natural gas indoors can cause severe diseases and damages to...

Buildings composited with thermoelectric cooling and heating systems use solar energy to cool rooms in summer and heat rooms in winter via thermoelectric devices and photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) dual function modules. In summer, the thermoelectric device works as a Peltier cooler when electrical...

A simulation model is presented to evaluate the operational benefits of Tianhuangping Pumped Storage Hydro-Plant (TPSHP) in the Shanghai electrical network. The benefits from the hydro-plant include the electricity from the pumped water, the efficiency improvement of the overall units and the...