Information technology's impact on productivity in conventional power plants

The economy has undergone a profound structural transformation in the last two decades. The Information Technology (IT) revolution has expanded well beyond the cutting-edge high-tech sector redefining the rules of global competition. In general, a direct correlation between IT spending and organisational productivity (often referred to as the 'productivity paradox') has been very elusive. Numerous studies have been undertaken to either explain or dispel this paradox. While findings from earlier studies have been conflicting, recent firm-level studies indicate that IT investment has a positive impact on productivity. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely used to evaluate the comparative efficiencies of production processes. We propose a two-stage DEA model to decompose the IT investment impacts on productivity in the power plant industry. IT plays an important role in the effective and efficient generation of electricity in conventional power plants. The proposed model allows the integration of production performance and investment performance and provides management with a comprehensive performance evaluation system. We also propose a benchmarking model in conjunction with our DEA model to measure performance against the 'best-in-class'. The data from 20 public conventional power plants in Iran are used to illustrate and validate our model

Philosophy of technology, approaches, views and erroneous perceptions, an explanation of the philosophy of educational technology in the present era

Technology category contains different ideas and approaches. Despite different beliefs and approaches, some experts, restricted technology and philosophy of technology in two approaches "instrumentational" and "civilization". In addition, "advanced" or "lack of advanced" Suggest According time  priority and recency; So that approach for  time priority knows the truth and previous approach knows retrogressive. In this article, following the introduction of brief history of the evolution of this issue that can be expressed; then the views and categories of philosophy of technology are discussed. The result shows that there are several approaches and philosophy of technology, these approaches and beliefs are discussed at a level and surface, time cannot be based on the criteria for preferring one over the other

Investigation of multi-phase tubular permanent magnet linear generator for wave energy converters

In this article, an investigation into different magnetization topologies for a long stator tubular permanent magnet linear generator is performed through a comparison based on the cogging force disturbance, the power output, and the cost of the raw materials of the machines. The results obtained from finite element analysis simulation are compared with an existing linear generator described in [1]. To ensure accurate results, the generator developed in [1] is built with 3D CAD and simulated using the finite-element method, and the obtained results are verified with the source.The PRIMaRE project

Cross-scale analysis of social-ecological systems:Policy options appraisal for delivering NetZero and other environmental objectives in Scotland

Public policy confronts complex, contested, wicked problems such as climate and biodiversity crises with challenges of how issues are framed, analysed, codified, and interpreted. Social-ecological systems provide an analytical framework that couples the biosphere and technosphere, recognising biophysical limits and emphasising the importance of critical reflection within policy decision-making. Conducting policy-options appraisals is increasingly seen as a transdisciplinary research-policy endeavour with researchers engaging policy actors in an extended peer community (post-normal science). This paper presents a case study of analysis undertaken with researchers, policy analysts, policy makers and other stakeholders to support decisions on how to implement future agriculture support in Scotland, so that the policy programme better delivers across social, economic and environmental objectives. The key change being considered in the future agricultural support programme is Enhanced Conditionality (EC) where the level of financial support provided to farm-businesses will depend on their undertaking agri-environmental measures that deliver against the key priorities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reversing biodiversity losses. The paper outlines the policy context within which the EC options appraisal takes place – highlighting how EC is a crucial component in making the wider suite of policy measures work. The transdisciplinary approach, Quantitative Story Telling (QST) is presented, emerging from decision support, participatory research, and post-normal science for policy domains. The stages of QST highlight the importance of analysis that underpins any quantification (decision on how issues are framed and what it included in the analysis) and the expectation that research outputs with be deliberated on with, and interpreted from, stakeholder perspectives. The project specific analyses are outlined, combining top-down options appraisal of how macro-policy decisions could constrain EC and bottom-up analysis of potential uptake and effectiveness of EC measures, undertaken in inter-disciplinary workshops with domain experts from biodiversity, soils and waters. The paper highlights challenges for implementation and evaluation at meso-scale with interactions between farm-businesses and catchment, landscape and regional objectives. The conclusions of the analysis, in policy terms, are that EC presents an opportunity to significantly realign how agricultural land management is conducted in Scotland, so that it is more effective in delivering climate change and biodiversity objectives, but there are formidable challenges in resolving the policy “sudoku”. Meso-scale issues are likely to mean the need to integrate alternative modelling paradigms such as spatial, empirical agent-based modelling (ABM) into policy option appraisals. By taking multi-scale, social-ecological systems perspectives on EC it has been possible to identify key policy decisions at a range of scales on which the success of EC will depend, to have a realistic understanding of how effective the EC measures might be in heterogenous Scottish environments and what are the likely barriers to uptake. The analysis also highlighted where outcomes of the policy change are likely to be challenging to monitor-evaluate; and where there are dependencies between farm-businesses that mean EC measures need to be supplemented with mechanisms that (1) promote cooperation between land managers and (2) identify and respond to agreed local priorities. The value of the participatory QST process was in making sure the analyses being undertaken were salient and the outputs seen as credible – but the challenges of interpreting necessarily complex outputs remain. The greatest value of QST may be that it provides a structured way to navigate complexity with policy makers rather than seeking to control or eliminate it.</p

Cross-scale analysis of social-ecological systems:Policy options appraisal for delivering NetZero and other environmental objectives in Scotland

Public policy confronts complex, contested, wicked problems such as climate and biodiversity crises with challenges of how issues are framed, analysed, codified, and interpreted. Social-ecological systems provide an analytical framework that couples the biosphere and technosphere, recognising biophysical limits and emphasising the importance of critical reflection within policy decision-making. Conducting policy-options appraisals is increasingly seen as a transdisciplinary research-policy endeavour with researchers engaging policy actors in an extended peer community (post-normal science). This paper presents a case study of analysis undertaken with researchers, policy analysts, policy makers and other stakeholders to support decisions on how to implement future agriculture support in Scotland, so that the policy programme better delivers across social, economic and environmental objectives. The key change being considered in the future agricultural support programme is Enhanced Conditionality (EC) where the level of financial support provided to farm-businesses will depend on their undertaking agri-environmental measures that deliver against the key priorities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reversing biodiversity losses. The paper outlines the policy context within which the EC options appraisal takes place – highlighting how EC is a crucial component in making the wider suite of policy measures work. The transdisciplinary approach, Quantitative Story Telling (QST) is presented, emerging from decision support, participatory research, and post-normal science for policy domains. The stages of QST highlight the importance of analysis that underpins any quantification (decision on how issues are framed and what it included in the analysis) and the expectation that research outputs with be deliberated on with, and interpreted from, stakeholder perspectives. The project specific analyses are outlined, combining top-down options appraisal of how macro-policy decisions could constrain EC and bottom-up analysis of potential uptake and effectiveness of EC measures, undertaken in inter-disciplinary workshops with domain experts from biodiversity, soils and waters. The paper highlights challenges for implementation and evaluation at meso-scale with interactions between farm-businesses and catchment, landscape and regional objectives. The conclusions of the analysis, in policy terms, are that EC presents an opportunity to significantly realign how agricultural land management is conducted in Scotland, so that it is more effective in delivering climate change and biodiversity objectives, but there are formidable challenges in resolving the policy “sudoku”. Meso-scale issues are likely to mean the need to integrate alternative modelling paradigms such as spatial, empirical agent-based modelling (ABM) into policy option appraisals. By taking multi-scale, social-ecological systems perspectives on EC it has been possible to identify key policy decisions at a range of scales on which the success of EC will depend, to have a realistic understanding of how effective the EC measures might be in heterogenous Scottish environments and what are the likely barriers to uptake. The analysis also highlighted where outcomes of the policy change are likely to be challenging to monitor-evaluate; and where there are dependencies between farm-businesses that mean EC measures need to be supplemented with mechanisms that (1) promote cooperation between land managers and (2) identify and respond to agreed local priorities. The value of the participatory QST process was in making sure the analyses being undertaken were salient and the outputs seen as credible – but the challenges of interpreting necessarily complex outputs remain. The greatest value of QST may be that it provides a structured way to navigate complexity with policy makers rather than seeking to control or eliminate it.</p

Patterning Bacterial Communities on Epithelial Cells

Micropatterning of bacteria using aqueous two phase system (ATPS) enables the localized culture and formation of physically separated bacterial communities on human epithelial cell sheets. This method was used to compare the effects of Escherichia coli strain MG1655 and an isogenic invasive counterpart that expresses the invasin (inv) gene from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis on the underlying epithelial cell layer. Large portions of the cell layer beneath the invasive strain were killed or detached while the non-invasive E. coli had no apparent effect on the epithelial cell layer over a 24 h observation period. In addition, simultaneous testing of the localized effects of three different bacterial species; E. coli MG1655, Shigella boydii KACC 10792 and Pseudomonas sp DSM 50906 on an epithelial cell layer is also demonstrated. The paper further shows the ability to use a bacterial predator, Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD 100, to selectively remove the E. coli, S. boydii and P. sp communities from this bacteria-patterned epithelial cell layer. Importantly, predation and removal of the P. Sp was critical for maintaining viability of the underlying epithelial cells. Although this paper focuses on a few specific cell types, the technique should be broadly applicable to understand a variety of bacteria-epithelial cell interactionsopen3

Microfluidics with fluid walls

Microfluidics has great potential, but the complexity of fabricating and operating devices has limited its use. Here we describe a method - Freestyle Fluidics - that overcomes many key limitations. In this method, liquids are confined by fluid (not solid) walls. Aqueous circuits with any 2D shape are printed in seconds on plastic or glass Petri dishes; then, interfacial forces pin liquids to substrates, and overlaying an immiscible liquid prevents evaporation. Confining fluid walls are pliant and resilient; they self-heal when liquids are pipetted through them. We drive flow through a wide range of circuits passively by manipulating surface tension and hydrostatic pressure, and actively using external pumps. Finally, we validate the technology with two challenging applications - triggering an inflammatory response in human cells and chemotaxis in bacterial biofilms. This approach provides a powerful and versatile alternative to traditional microfluidics.The complexity of fabricating and operating microfluidic devices limits their use. Walsh et al. describe a method in which circuits are printed as quickly and simply as writing with a pen, and liquids in them are confined by fluid instead of solid walls

A maritime decision support system to assess risk in the presence of environmental uncertainties: the REP10 experiment

The aim of this work is to report on an activity carried out during the 2010 Recognized Environmental Picture experiment, held in the Ligurian Sea during summer 2010. The activity was the first at-sea test of the recently developed decision support system (DSS) for operation planning, which had previously been tested in an artificial experiment. The DSS assesses the impact of both environmental conditions (meteorological and oceanographic) and non-environmental conditions (such as traffic density maps) on people and assets involved in the operation and helps in deciding a course of action that allows safer operation. More precisely, the environmental variables (such as wind speed, current speed and significant wave height) taken as input by the DSS are the ones forecasted by a super-ensemble model, which fuses the forecasts provided by multiple forecasting centres. The uncertainties associated with the DSS's inputs (generally due to disagreement between forecasts) are propagated through the DSS's output by using the unscented transform. In this way, the system is not only able to provide a traffic light map (run/not run the operation), but also to specify the confidence level associated with each action. This feature was tested on a particular type of operation with underwater gliders: the glider surfacing for data transmission. It is also shown how the availability of a glider path prediction tool provides surfacing options along the predicted path. The applicability to different operations is demonstrated by applying the same system to support diver operations