An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

Condition Monitoring of Power Cables

A National Grid funded research project at Southampton has investigated possible methodologies for data acquisition, transmission and processing that will facilitate on-line continuous monitoring of partial discharges in high voltage polymeric cable systems. A method that only uses passive components at the measuring points has been developed and is outlined in this paper. More recent work, funded through the EPSRC Supergen V, UK Energy Infrastructure (AMPerES) grant in collaboration with UK electricity network operators has concentrated on the development of partial discharge data processing techniques that ultimately may allow continuous assessment of transmission asset health to be reliably determined

Gender Aware Approaches in Agricultural Programmes: International Literature Review

This document presents gender aware approaches in agricultural programmes. In response to the persistent inequalities of women in farming despite decades of development assistance, Team Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security at Sida headquarters has initiated a thematic evaluation of how gender issues are tackled in Sida-supported agricultural programmes. The purpose is to increase understanding of how Sida's development assistance in agriculture should be designed, implemented and funded to ensure that female farmers are reached, that their needs as producers are met, and that they are able to benefit from the support to achieve a positive impact on their livelihoods. As part of this, the study also aims to understand the ways in which particular aid modalities impact upon the ability of programmes to reach women farmers effectively. The ILR aims to address the following questions: * Which methodologies and instruments have been used by donors to widen the scope of women's agency in agricultural development programmes? * To what extent has the work of programmes on involving female farmers impacted upon overall agricultural outcomes? * What are the most important lessons? What is working well and what is working not so well (effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability)? Below are recommendations to increase understanding of how Sida's development assistance in agriculture should be designed, implemented and funded to ensure that female farmers are reached, that their needs as producers are met, and that they are able to benefit from the support to achieve a positive impact on their livelihoods

Adapting structuration theory to understand the role of reflexivity: Problematization, clinical audit and information systems

This paper is an exploratory account of the further development and application of a hybrid framework, StructurANTion, that is based on Structuration Theory and Actor Network Theory (ANT). The use of social theories in general and their use in information systems (IS) research in particular is explored leading to the use of the framework to examine the concept of what are termed humanchine networks in the context of clinical audit, within a healthcare Primary Care Trust (PCT). A particular focus is on the manner in which information systems-based reflexivity contributes to both entrenching a networks’ structurated order as well as contributing to its emancipatory change. The case study compares clinic-centric and patientcentric audit and seeks to further extend the understanding of the role of information and information systems within structurated humanchine activity systems. Conclusions indicate that the use of more socially informed IS methods and approaches can incorporate more emancipatory ideals and lead to greater adoption and usage of more relevant and useful clinical information systems and practices

What is systemic innovation?

The term ‘systemic innovation’ is increasing in use. However, there is no consensus on its meaning: four different ways of using the term can be identified in the literature. Most people simply define it as a type of innovation where value can only be derived when the innovation is synergistically integrated with other complementary innovations, going beyond the boundaries of a single organization. Therefore, the term ‘systemic’ refers to the existence of a co-ordinated innovation system. A second, less frequent use of the term makes reference to the development of policies and governance at a local, regional or national scale to create an enabling environment for the above kind of synergistic, multi-organizational innovations. Here, ‘systemic’ means recognition that innovation systems can be enabled and/or constrained by a meta-level policy system. The third use of the term, which is growing in popularity, says that an innovation is ‘systemic’ when its purpose is to change the fundamental nature of society; for instance, to deliver on major transitions concerning ecological sustainability. What makes this systemic is acknowledgement of the existence of a systems hierarchy (systems nested within each other): innovation systems are parts of economic systems, which are parts of societal systems, and all societies exist on a single planetary ecological system. Collaboration is required across organizational and national boundaries to change the societal laws and norms that govern economic systems, which will place new enablers and constraints on innovations systems in the interests of sustainability. The fourth use of the term ‘systemic innovation’ concerns how the people acting to bring about an innovation engage in a process to support systemic thinking, and it is primarily this process and the thinking it gives rise to that is seen as systemic rather than the innovation system that they exist within or are trying to create. It is this fourth understanding of ‘systemic’ that accords with most of the literature on systems thinking published between the late 1970s and the present day. The paper offers an overview of what systems thinkers mean by ‘systemic’, and this not only enables us to provide a redefinition of ‘systemic innovation’, but it also helps to show how all three previous forms of innovation that have been described as systemic can be enhanced by the practice of systems thinking

Mapping and Developing Service Design Research in the UK.

This report is the outcome of the Service Design Research UK (SDR UK) Network with Lancaster University as primary investigator and London College of Communication, UAL as co-investigator. This project was funded as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council Network grant. Service Design Research UK (SDR UK), funded by an AHRC Network Grant, aims to create a UK research network in an emerging field in Design that is Service Design. This field has a recent history and a growing, but still small and dispersed, research community that strongly needs support and visibility to consolidate its knowledge base and enhance its potential impact. Services represent a significant part of the UK economy and can have a transformational role in our society as they affect the way we organize, move, work, study or take care of our health and family. Design introduces a more human centred and creative approach to service innovation; this is critical to delivering more effective and novel solutions that have the potential to tackle contemporary challenges. Service Design Research UK reviewed and consolidated the emergence of Service Design within the estalished field of Design

A critical examination of the effectiveness of faculty-based student learning support

This thesis presents an investigation into the effectiveness of faculty-based student learning support and comprises three volumes. Volume 1 provides an overview of the background literature, research methodology, ethical and reliability considerations linked to two projects whose overarching theme is the support and improvement of the student experience. The overview begins with an outline of the aim of this thesis, followed by a synopsis of the literature concerning student support in higher education and the use of technology to support learners. The methodological framework is then discussed and a brief introduction to the projects is provided. The overview concludes with an exploration of the effectiveness of faculty-based student learning support and the presentation of a new blended approach to the organisation, delivery and typology of advising. This seeks to demonstrate the strength of a blended approach and thus makes a contribution to the practice, theory and method of supporting student learning. Volume 2 discusses the Advice Shop project and considers the processes, methods and ethics of this student learning support. A summary of eight interventions is presented together with details of how the project was subsequently rolled out across the University. A consideration of the organisational model and personnel involved in student advising is also offered. The volume concludes with student and staff feedback and a discussion of how the project aims have been achieved. Evidence of the research output and components of practice relating to Project 1 can be found in Volume2 Part 2. Volume 3 presents a discussion of Project 2 - the use of technology to support learners. The project presents two technology-enhanced interventions - an electronic student attendance monitoring scheme, and the development of two online learner support tools using QuestionMark Perception as the delivery software. The methods and ethical considerations used to establish and implement these interventions are present together with feedback from students and staff. The volume concludes with a discussion of how the aims of the project have been achieved. Evidence of the research output and components of practice relating to Project 2 can be found in Volume 3 Part 2

The importance of information flows temporal attributes for the efficient scheduling of dynamic demand responsive transport services

The operation of a demand responsive transport service usually involves the management of dynamic requests. The underlying algorithms are mainly adaptations of procedures carefully designed to solve static versions of the problem, in which all the requests are known in advance. However there is no guarantee that the effectiveness of an algorithm stays unchanged when it is manipulated to work in a dynamic environment. On the other hand, the way the input is revealed to the algorithm has a decisive role on the schedule quality. We analyze three characteristics of the information flow (percentage of real-time requests, interval between call-in and requested pickup time and length of the computational cycle time), assessing their influence on the effectiveness of the scheduling proces