Financing sustainable energy for all: pay-as-you-go vs. traditional solar finance approaches in Kenya

This paper focuses on finance for Solar Home Systems (SHSs) in Kenya and asks to what extent emerging new finance approaches are likely to address the shortcomings of past approaches. Drawing on the STEPS Pathways Approach we adopt a framing that understands finance within a broader socio-technical context as a necessary but not sufficient component of achieving alternative pathways to sustainable energy access. The paper contributes in four ways. Firstly, it presents a comprehensive overview of past and new emerging approaches to financing SHSs in Kenya and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, it represents one of the first attempts in the literature to analyse the potential of new, real time monitoring technologies and pay as you go finance models to overcome the barriers faced by conventional consumer finance models for off-grid renewable energy technologies (RETs). Thirdly, by applying for the first time we are aware of a socio-technical approach, via the application of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) theory, to analyse the finance of RETs in developing countries, the analysis considers finance in the context of the social practices poor people seek to fulfil via access to the energy services that off-grid RETs provide, and the ways in which people previously paid for these services (e.g. via kerosene for lighting). This also situates the analysis within the understanding of SHSs as a niche that has to compete with the established regime of energy service provision and its attendant social and political institutional support. The paper therefore also contributes to the small but expanding body of literature that seeks to operationalise socio-technical transitions thinking and SNM within a developing country context

Students' Understanding of Direct Current Resistive Electrical Circuits

Research has shown that both high school and university students' reasoning patterns regarding direct current resistive electric circuits often differ from the currently accepted explanations. At present, there are no standard diagnostic examinations in electric circuits. Two versions of a diagnostic instrument called Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric circuits Concepts Tests (DIRECT) were developed, each consisting of 29 questions. The information provided by the exam provides classroom instructors a means with which to evaluate the progress and conceptual difficulties of their students and their instructional methods. It can be used to evaluate curricular packages and/or other supplemental materials for their effectiveness in overcoming students' conceptual difficulties. The analyses indicate that students, especially females, tend to hold multiple misconceptions, even after instruction. During interviews, the idea that the battery is a constant source of current was used most often in answering the questions. Students tended to focus on current in solving the problems and to confuse terms, often assigning the properties of current to voltage and/or resistance. Results indicated that students do not have a clear understanding of the underlying mechanisms of electric circuit phenomena. On the other hand, students were able to translate easily from a "realistic" representation of a circuit to the corresponding schematic diagram.Comment: This article has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of Physics - Physics Education Research Supplement. No known publication date as ye

Day-to-day Variability of Stuttering

Variability has long been known to be a primary feature of the disorder of stuttering (Bloodstein & Bernstein Ratner, 2008; Costello & Ingham, 1984; Yaruss, 1997a, 1997b). Many factors that affect variability have been investigated (Brown, 1937; Johnson & Brown, 1935; Quarrington, Conway, & Siegel, 1962) yet the typical range of variability experienced by speakers remains unknown. This study will examine the speech of six adult speakers in three spontaneous speaking situations and two reading tasks. The frequency, duration, and types of stuttered events that occur on the tasks will be compared within and between speakers. The focus will be on describing variability in stuttering frequency and duration within speakers and attempting to detect consistent patterns between speakers

Tackling Arithmophobia : Teaching How to Read, Understand, and Analyze Financial Statements

This discussion presents different ideas on how to teach accounting and practical finance to law students

Six causes of the credit crunch

Bank lending typically moves with the business cycle. In Texas from 1987 to 1992, however, bank loans declined while nonagricultural employment rose. Robert T. Clair and Paula Tucker consider this evidence of a constrained supply of bank loans, or credit crunch. ; Clair and Tucker find that multiple factors have reduced banks' willingness and ability to supply loans. The resolution of failed banks and thrifts, tightening of bank examination standards, new capital requirements, new regulations and increased enforcement of old regulations, and increased exposure to lawsuits have each had an effect. Many of these regulatory changes where made to address important economic and social goals, but their side effects, often unintended and perhaps unavoidable, have been to reduce bank lending in the short run.Credit

A Comparison of Two Formulas of Topical Menthol on Vascular Responses and Perceived Intensity Prior to and following a Bout of Maximum Voluntary Muscular Contractions (MVMCs)

The purpose of this study was to compare the vascular responses in the brachial artery and perceived intensity of two different formulas of topical menthol gels prior to and following a bout of maximum voluntary muscular contractions (MVMCs). 18 adults completed the same protocol on different days using blinded topical menthol gels (Old Formula and New Formula). Heart rate, brachial artery blood flow (ml/min), vessel diameter and reported intensity of sensation were measured at baseline (T1), at 5 min after application of the gel to the upper arm (T2), and immediately following five MVMCs hand grips (T3). The New Formula exhibited a significant decline in blood flow (−22.6%) between T1 and T2 which was not different than the nonsignificant declines under the Old Formula 1 (−21.8%). Both formulas resulted in a significant increase in perceived intensity of sensation between T1 and T2. Blood flow increased significantly with the New Formula (488%) between T2 and T3 and nonsignificantly with the Old Formula (355%)