A simulation tool for analysis and design of reverse electrodialysis using concentrated brines

Reverse Electrodialysis (SGP-RE or RED) represents a viable technology for the conversion of the Salinity Gradient Power into electric power. A comprehensive model is proposed for the RED process using sea or brackish water and concentrated brine as feed solutions. The goals were (i) reliably describing the physical phenomena involved in the process and (ii) providing information for optimal equipment design. For such purposes, the model has been developed at two different scales of description: a lower scale for the repeating unit of the system (cell pair), and a higher scale for the entire equipment (stack). The model was implemented in a process simulator, validated against original experimental information and then used to investigate the influence of the main operating factors and on power output. Feed solutions of different salinities were also tested. A good matching was found between predictions and experiments for a wide range of inlet concentrations, flow rates and feed temperatures. Optimal feed conditions, for the adopted system geometry and membranes, have been found employing brackish water (0.08-0.1 M NaCl) as dilute and brine (4.5-5 M NaCl) as concentrate to generate the highest power density at 40\ub0C temperature. The model can be used to explore the full potential of the RED technology, especially for any investigation regarding the future scale-up of the process

Analysis and simulation of scale-up potentials in reverse electrodialysis

The Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) process has been widely accepted as a viable and promising technology to produce electric energy from salinity difference (salinity gradient power - e.g. using river water/seawater, or seawater and concentrated brines). Recent R&D efforts demonstrated how an appropriate design of the RED unit and a suitable selection of process conditions may crucially enhance the process performance. With this regard, a process simulator was developed and validated with experimental data collected on a lab-scale unit, providing a new modelling tool for process optimisation. In this work, performed within the REAPower project (www.reapower.eu), a process simulator previously proposed by the same authors has been modified in order to predict the behaviour of a cross-flow RED unit. The model was then adopted to investigate the influence of the most important variables (i.e. solution properties and stack geometry) on the overall process performance. In particular, the use of different concentrations and flow rates for the feed streams have been considered, as well as different aspect ratios in asymmetric stacks. Moreover, the influence of the scaling-up a RED unit was investigated, starting from a 22x22 cm2 100 cell pairs lab-stack, and simulating the performance of larger stacks up to a 44x88 cm2 500 cell pairs unit. Finally, different scenarios are proposed for a prototype-scale RED plant, providing useful indications for the technology scale-up towards 1 kW of power production, relevant to the installation of a real prototype plant in Trapani (Italy) being the final objective of the R&D activities of the REAPower project

The Ethics of Corporate Governance

How should corporate directors determine what is the right decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ethical investors, to do the good thing when they seek to make the right choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives - stakeholder theory and stewardship theory - tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are - for good reason - more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint

Exploring the equity of GP practice prescribing rates for selected coronary heart disease drugs: a multiple regression analysis with proxies of healthcare need

Background There is a small, but growing body of literature highlighting inequities in GP practice prescribing rates for many drug therapies. The aim of this paper is to further explore the equity of prescribing for five major CHD drug groups and to explain the amount of variation in GP practice prescribing rates that can be explained by a range of healthcare needs indicators (HCNIs). Methods The study involved a cross-sectional secondary analysis in four primary care trusts (PCTs 1–4) in the North West of England, including 132 GP practices. Prescribing rates (average daily quantities per registered patient aged over 35 years) and HCNIs were developed for all GP practices. Analysis was undertaken using multiple linear regression. Results Between 22–25% of the variation in prescribing rates for statins, beta-blockers and bendrofluazide was explained in the multiple regression models. Slightly more variation was explained for ACE inhibitors (31.6%) and considerably more for aspirin (51.2%). Prescribing rates were positively associated with CHD hospital diagnoses and procedures for all drug groups other than ACE inhibitors. The proportion of patients aged 55–74 years was positively related to all prescribing rates other than aspirin, where they were positively related to the proportion of patients aged >75 years. However, prescribing rates for statins and ACE inhibitors were negatively associated with the proportion of patients aged >75 years in addition to the proportion of patients from minority ethnic groups. Prescribing rates for aspirin, bendrofluazide and all CHD drugs combined were negatively associated with deprivation. Conclusion Although around 25–50% of the variation in prescribing rates was explained by HCNIs, this varied markedly between PCTs and drug groups. Prescribing rates were generally characterised by both positive and negative associations with HCNIs, suggesting possible inequities in prescribing rates on the basis of ethnicity, deprivation and the proportion of patients aged over 75 years (for statins and ACE inhibitors, but not for aspirin)

The Child Care Crisis and Its Impact on Hispanic Families

While the child care crisis has touched nearly every corner of America, impacting families of diverse racial, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, this report will examine its impact on the Hispanic community. With a population of 59.9 million, Hispanics are the largest minority population in the United States and contribute to the rich and diverse fabric of American life. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines Hispanic as “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.” Hispanic families in the United States, made up of both immigrants and nativeborn citizens, disproportionally lack access to a varied array of affordable child care providers. Nearly 60 percent of Hispanic families reside in a child care desert

Intravenous sodium nitrite in acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: a randomized controlled trial (NIAMI).

AIM: Despite prompt revascularization of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), substantial myocardial injury may occur, in part a consequence of ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI). There has been considerable interest in therapies that may reduce IRI. In experimental models of AMI, sodium nitrite substantially reduces IRI. In this double-blind randomized placebo controlled parallel-group trial, we investigated the effects of sodium nitrite administered immediately prior to reperfusion in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 229 patients presenting with acute STEMI were randomized to receive either an i.v. infusion of 70 μmol sodium nitrite (n = 118) or matching placebo (n = 111) over 5 min immediately before primary percutaneous intervention (PPCI). Patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) at 6-8 days and at 6 months and serial blood sampling was performed over 72 h for the measurement of plasma creatine kinase (CK) and Troponin I. Myocardial infarct size (extent of late gadolinium enhancement at 6-8 days by CMR-the primary endpoint) did not differ between nitrite and placebo groups after adjustment for area at risk, diabetes status, and centre (effect size -0.7% 95% CI: -2.2%, +0.7%; P = 0.34). There were no significant differences in any of the secondary endpoints, including plasma troponin I and CK area under the curve, left ventricular volumes (LV), and ejection fraction (EF) measured at 6-8 days and at 6 months and final infarct size (FIS) measured at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Sodium nitrite administered intravenously immediately prior to reperfusion in patients with acute STEMI does not reduce infarct size

The Decreasing Significance of Stigma in the Lives of Bisexual Men: Keynote Address, Bisexual Research Convention, London

This article is constructed around a keynote address given at the Bisexual Research Convention, held in London 2010. The keynote was delivered by sociologist Eric Anderson, on behalf of himself and the other authors of this article. The keynote reflected upon a body of ongoing research, funded by the American Institute of Bisexuality and collected by this team of researchers, into the changing relationship between men and homophobia. It first contextualizes 20th-century attitudes toward homo/bisexuality before showing a declining significance of biphobia and homophobia in men's lives today. In accordance with the keynote, this article draws from preliminary findings of multiple ongoing studies of bisexual men in the United States and the United Kingdom

Arthur Baldwinson: regional modernism in Sydney 1937-1969

This thesis examines the career of Arthur Baldwinson (1908-1969), a Sydney-based modernist architect. It argues that Baldwinson was a central figure in the development of a modernist domestic architecture in Australia from the late 1930s until the late 1950s through his practice as well as his activist role in the development of the Australian design reform and arts organisations: the Modern Architecture Research Group (MARS); the Designers for Industry Association of Australia (DIAA); and the Contemporary Art Society (CAS). It is further argued that Baldwinson designed and built two of Sydney's first authentically modernist houses before the 1939-45 War and that his subsequent development and refinement of a regional methodology for modernism in Sydney's domestic architecture is at the centre of the later regionalist styles of the late 1950s and early 1960s currently described as the "Sydney School". The conclusions argue that significant alterations are required in the historical narratives of Sydney modernist architecture to illustrate the presence of an activist modernist community of shared architectural experiences by the late 1930s and Baldwinson's presence at the centre of these developments in domestic architecture. The research draws on a broad range of primary and secondary sources. These include the Baldwinson papers at the State Library of NSW, other papers in private collections, contemporary photographs, popular and professional press reports, interviews with surviving associates and students of Baldwinson, scholarly published literature and unpublished theses relating to modernism in Australia and Europe, as well as the international development of a regionalist methodology for architecture adapted by Baldwinson and other Australian practitioners

The impact of business outsourcing on corporate real estate in India

Driven by Western companies\u27 requirements for efficiency and effectiveness, a trend towards outsourcing of business activities to India and other low-cost countries commenced in the early 1990s and has continued to grow at a surprisingly fast pace. In a relatively short timeframe India has become a global hub for back-office services, although the effect on the urban cities is yet to be fully comprehended. As American and European companies continue to relocate their information technology services and other back office works to the subcontinent, there has been a considerable flow-on effect on Indian corporate real estate. This paper addresses two key questions. Firstly, the factors important for Western companies\u27 outsourcing of organisational activities to India, and secondly, the effect of business outsourcing on corporate real estate locational requirements in India. A survey of corporate real estate representatives in India and the UK was conducted with the results providing an insight into the present state and possible future direction of outsourcing for India. This research presents a unique insight into the impacts of Western business outsourcing on corporate real estate in India, and presents findings that are useful to both organisations seeking to relocate business activities to India and for property market analysts looking to understand drivers behind this sustained demand for Indian corporate real estate