Product Specification: Distributed Trust Model System (DOE-PSU-0000922-4)

A Distributed Trust Model (DTM) System is a supervisory component within an energy grid of things. The role of a DTM System is to implement the trust aspects of an energy services interface. The DTM System augments existing security measures by monitoring the communication between the various EGoT System actors and quantifying metrics of trust of each actor

A theory of change for one-on-one peer support for older adolescents and young adults

Peer support has become increasingly available as a formal mental health service. However, high quality research and implementation of peer support has been hampered over the years by the lack of theory that clarifies peer support roles and explains exactly how these roles foster positive outcomes for peer support users. Observers have noted that theory is particularly sparse in regard to peer support for older adolescents and young adults, and they have called for theory that not only clarifies roles and mechanisms of impact, but also identifies how peer support for young people might differ from peer support for older adults This qualitative study brought young people with experience providing and using peer support together in small group discussions focused on understanding the activities and outcomes of peer support. This information was used to develop a theory of change that outlines key activities that constitute a one-on-one peer support role for young people, and describes how and why carrying out these activities should lead to positive outcomes. The theory highlights the characteristics of a successful “peerness-based relationship,” and proposes that the development of this kind of relationship mediates other positive outcomes from peer support. The article concludes with a discussion of how this theory can usefully inform the development and specification of peer support roles, training and supervision, and other organizational supports

PSU DERMS Operating Manual and EGoT System Reference (DOE-PSU-0000922-7)

This document guides the user of the Portland State University Distributed Energy Resource Management System in configuration and normal operation. For direct access to the underlying code and its usage see the accompanying PSU EGoT System Reference. The system reference outlines all classes and methods used through the Energy Grid of Things system including applications, models, interfaces and the entity component system

Producing Knowledge Together: a participatory approach to synthesising research across a large‑scale collaboration in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

Background Despite that stakeholder participation in evidence synthesis could result in more useful outcomes, there are few examples of processes that actively involve them in synthesis work. Techniques are needed that engage diverse stakeholders as equal partners in knowledge co-production. The aims of this paper are to describe an innovative participatory process of synthesising a large body of academic research products and compare the findings of the participatory process against two traditional approaches to synthesis: a rapid review and a structured review. Methods First, a rapid synthesis of all research outputs (n = 86) was conducted by researchers with in-depth knowledge of the collaboration’s research. Second, a team of researchers and service providers conducted a structured synthesis of seventy-eight peer-reviewed articles and reports generated by the collaboration. Fifty-five publications were brought forward for further synthesis in part three, a facilitated participatory synthesis. Finally, we explored the value added by the participatory method by comparing findings generated across the three synthesis approaches. Results Twelve researchers and 11 service providers/policy partners—8 self-identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander—participated in two facilitated workshops (totalling 4 h). Workshop activities engaged participants in reviewing publication summaries, identifying key findings, and evoked review, discussion and refinement. The process explicitly linked experiential knowledge to citations of academic research, clearly connecting the two knowledge types. In comparing the findings generated across all three methods we found mostly consistencies; the few discrepancies did not contradict but gave deeper insights into statements created by the other methods. The participatory synthesis generated the most, detailed, and unique findings, and contextual insights about the relevance of the key messages for practice. Conclusion The participatory synthesis engaged stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and skillsets in synthesising a large body of evidence in a relatively short time. The participatory approach produced findings comparable to traditional synthesis methods while extending knowledge and identifying lessons most relevant for the participants who, ultimately, are the end users of the research. This process will interest other large-scale research collaborations seeking to engage stakeholders in evidence synthesis

On Willing Surrender as Virtuous Self-Constitution

Our cultural situation is to seek a moral form of self-constitution, rather than an ontological or epistemological foundation. Such a moral ground lies in the paradox of willing surrender of the will to do wrong or dysfunctional acts in order to enter temporally-extended processes of moral change. But the paradox of willing surrender of the will requires analysis. The propositional form of it cannot be sustained and must instead give way to willingness as an ongoing choice. The self-reflexivity of the will with which we accomplish this turns out to be a core activity of human activity that seeks openness to moral growth through humility. The paper suggests that self-constitution in this manner this is what freedom is for us and is therefore the source of our hope

Product Specification: Distributed Control Module (DOE-PSU-0000922-5)

This product specification describes the architecture, implementation, and hardware descriptions of a Distributed Control Module (DCM) prototype. A DCM is an enabling technology for distributed energy resources (DER). DERs are grid-enabled generation, storage, and load devices that are owned by utility customers. DCMs enable information exchange between a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) and DERs for the purpose of networking large numbers of DERs. The DCM prototype described within this document enables DER participation in a service-oriented aggregation system. A DERMS server provides IEEE 2030.5 smart energy resource services to DCM clients using a request/response information exchange process. DCMs serve as gateways between the DERMS and the DERs, and they act as agents on behalf of the DER owners to provide intelligent management of the DERs

Revisiting Rockafellar’s Theorem on Relative Interiors of Convex Graphs with Applications to Convex Generalized Differentiation

In this paper we revisit a theorem by Rockafellar on representing the relative interior of the graph of a convex set-valued mapping in terms of the relative interior of its domain and function values. Then we apply this theorem to provide a simple way to prove many calculus rules of generalized differentiation for set-valued mappings and nonsmooth functions in finite dimensions. Using this important theorem by Rockafellar allows us to improve some results on generalized differentiation of set-valued mappings in [13] by replacing the relative interior qualifications on graphs with qualifications on domains and/or ranges

Implementation Profile: Modeling Environment (DOE-PSU-0000922-3)

This implementation profile provides the scope, background, and requirements necessary to implement a Modeling Environment (ME) to test a Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Management System (DERMS). A DERMS is used by an aggregator to dispatch large numbers of DERs in order to provide grid services to a Grid Operator. The ME addresses scalability issues inherent to Hardware-in-the-Loop DERMS simulation; a large number of assets are needed in order to observe effects on the grid from deployment and dispatch of DERs

Racial Capitalism and Self-Organized Houseless Encampments: (en)countering Banishment in Portland and Miami

In this paper, I contribute to the literature on self-organized houseless encampments in the United States in two ways. First, I draw on Roy’s concept of racial banishment to examine the relationship between encampments and American racial capitalism. Second, I extend Caldeira’s theory of peripheral urbanization – originally developed to describe urban informality in the Global South – to encampments in the United States. Doing so highlights how encampment residents and local government interact with one another through transversal logics. I show how both these frameworks – racial banishment and peripheral urbanization – can help us understand the creation of two self-organized houseless encampments: Dignity Village in Portland and Umoja Village in Miami. In each city, I describe how these encampments not only encountered, but also countered various forms of banishment through creative means

Solitary Confinement and the Well-Being of People in Prison

Background Solitary confinement and mental well-being has been researched extensively, with a significant increase in studies over the last ten years. These recent studies produce mixed evidence for whether placement in solitary confinement is associated with psychological distress. We advance our understanding of these relationships in two critical ways. First, we conduct both between- and within-person analyses within the same data to better understand the relationship of solitary confinement and mental well-being relative to the well-being of people in less restrictive prison settings. Second, we ask the men in our sample questions about their personality style, coping strategies, and interactions with staff, which allows us to explore how individual characteristics and prison experiences matter, alongside isolation, in understanding mental well-being. Methods We gather data from interviews at three time points with 122 men in solitary confinement and 204 men in other conditions of confinement in Arizona from 2017 to 2019. We merge these interview data with administrative data on study sample and population sample to include critical measures such as mental health score, risk level, and visitation status. Our interviews contain a Global Severity Index (GSI), created from 90 self-reported psychopathological symptoms experienced, that we use to assess well-being. We estimate cross-classified multilevel models to assess between-person differences and within-person change in well-being over time. Results There was a small relationship between solitary confinement and worsening well-bring (longitudinal, within-person) and a small relationship between solitary confinement and worse well-being (cross-sectional, between-person), with this between-person association reduced significantly upon inclusion of additional individual characteristics and prison experiences. Conclusions Our results suggest that the incarceration experience, including conditions of confinement, is associated with mental well-being in different ways for different people. We believe that collective confinement and well-being could receive the same scholarly attention and public concern as solitary confinement