Vendor

MCFC technology is still under development, but it is commercially available today from at least five international vendors [24]. 

Currently, in the United States, FuelCell Energy (FCE) (Danbury, CT) is actively pursuing the commercialization of MCFCs, while progress at GenceU (Southbury, 

CT) is in the development phase. Over the last decade, FCE has notably reduced FC system manufacturing costs and is now approaching its target of making FC systems competitive with traditional power plants. 

Three companies are known to be pursuing MCFC technology in the Far East Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) (Japan), Posco (Korea), and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction (DHI) (Korea). Although there has been some recent academic activity [21, 25, 26], and a development program reportedly reached the kilowatts scale at the Fuel Cell Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University [27, 28], no Taiwanese or Chinese industrial vendors are known to the authors. 

In Europe, AFCo (Italy) and MTU CFC Solutions (Cermany) have been playing important roles in the development of external and internal reforming MCFC systems, respectively, but both of them have currently discontinued their MCFC activities. 

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Equipment costs may be obtained from equipment vendors or published cost data. Published cost data are usually presented as cost versus capacity charts or expressed as a power law of capacity ... 

More than 10 000 databases exist that provide a small or large amount of data on various topics (including chemistry). The contents in databases are supplied by approximately 3500 database developers (e.g., the Chemical Abstracts Service, MDL Information Systems, etc.). Since there is a variety of topics from economics to science, as well as a variety of structures of the database, only some of the vendors (-2000) offer one or more databases as either local or as online databases (Figure 5-4) [4]. Usually, databases are provided by hosts that permit direct access to more than one database. The search occurs primarily through different individual soft-... 

Extmsioa processiag coaditioas vary depending oa the ABS grade and appHcation vendor bulletins should be consulted for details. Information for assistance ia troubleshootiag extmsioa problems can be found ia refereace 141. 

D. L. Klass, ed., A. Directory of U.S. Renewable Energy Technology Vendors, Biomass, Photovoltaics, Solar Thermal, Wind, Biomass Energy Research Association, Washington, D.C., 1990, for U.S. Agency for International Development, 74 pp. 

Chemical suppHers include basic manufacturers of active ingredients, formulators, and distribution or service industries. The relative importance of each depends greatly upon the industry being suppHed. In many instances, the vendor may supply a number of performance chemicals (eg, corrosion control agents or stabilizers) in addition to the antimicrobial agent. 

Database Producers. Producers of databases, also known as database pubHshers or information providers, determine the content of the databases, produce them, and typically lease or Hcense them to private organi2ations or database vendors. Database producers may be categori2ed as government, not-for-profit, commercial/industrial, and mixed. 

Existence of the end user was recognized in the 1980s it was not until the 1990s that vendors made concerted efforts to accommodate end user needs by providing faster, easier, and more powerhil ways to retrieve relevant information. In electronic information retrieval, the term accessibiUty implies that data exist in electronic form, that data retrieval is cost effective, intuitive, and easy, and that the electronic medium contributes to the quaUty and usabihty of the information (27). 

BRS Online Products. This vendor comprises BRS Online Service, BRS/Colleague, BRS/After Dark, and BRS/Morning Search (35). The strength of BRS is in medical, physical, and social sciences as well as business and news databases of value to the health care and pharmaceutical industries... 

MDL Information Systems, Inc. MDL provides modular software systems for managing chemical information, as weU as related molecular and reaction databases for use with the software. MDL s database management programs, MACCS-II and REACCS, provide access to compound and reaction databases and also have the capabiHty to manage user-created databases (37). Although MDL is not considered to be an on-line database vendor, it is mentioned here because of the value of its information products and services to the chemical industry. 

The foUowing tables outline the bibhographic, business, stmcture, numeric, spectra, and reaction databases currentiy available their producers and vendors and the subject matter they cover. 

OtherD t b ses. Available from different vendors (Table 8). For example, the researcher can obtain physical properties by usiag the Merck Index Online or the Dictionary of Organic Compounds available by Chapman and Hall Chemical Database. In DIALOG, numeric databases are collected under the name of CHEMPROP. 

EPA ir 3,300 STN (vendor) and spectro-photo meter vapor phase... 

NIST/EPA/MSDC ms 55,000 STN (vendor) PC-based, CD-ROM, tape Wiley Quahty Index algorithm... 

Speclnfo Chemical Concepts 13/ C-nmr 100,000 13,000 STN (vendor) Bremser-BASE collection Nn th, Munich... 

The type of hardware or computer system to be used and the potential size of the database should also be considered. Eor some databases, a personal computer may be adequate. Eor others, especiaUy if there wiU be multiple users, a mainframe computer or a network of personal computers may be required. Storage capacity and response time are parameters that should be considered. However, computer technology changes so rapidly that vendors and computer experts should be consulted when building any personal databases. 

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