Enabling Micro-level Demand-Side Grid Flexiblity in Resource Constrained Environments

The increased penetration of uncertain and variable renewable energy presents various resource and operational electric grid challenges. Micro-level (household and small commercial) demand-side grid flexibility could be a cost-effective strategy to integrate high penetrations of wind and solar energy, but literature and field deployments exploring the necessary information and communication technologies (ICTs) are scant. This paper presents an exploratory framework for enabling information driven grid flexibility through the Internet of Things (IoT), and a proof-of-concept wireless sensor gateway (FlexBox) to collect the necessary parameters for adequately monitoring and actuating the micro-level demand-side. In the summer of 2015, thirty sensor gateways were deployed in the city of Managua (Nicaragua) to develop a baseline for a near future small-scale demand response pilot implementation. FlexBox field data has begun shedding light on relationships between ambient temperature and load energy consumption, load and building envelope energy efficiency challenges, latency communication network challenges, and opportunities to engage existing demand-side user behavioral patterns. Information driven grid flexibility strategies present great opportunity to develop new technologies, system architectures, and implementation approaches that can easily scale across regions, incomes, and levels of development

Descriptive Analysis of Sexual Assault Nurse Examinations in Anchorage: 1996-2004

This project examined the characteristics of 1,383 sexual assault victimizations recorded by sexual assault nurse examiners in Anchorage, Alaska from 1996 to 2004. The report documents the demographic characteristics of patients, pre-assault characteristics, assault characteristics, post-assault characteristics, exam characteristics and findings, suspect characteristics, and legal resolutions.National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Grant No. 2004-WB-GX-0003Index of Tables and Figures / Acknowledgments \ Executive Summary Descriptive Analysis / Sexual Assaults in Anchorage: 1996-2004 / Sexual Assault Nurse Examinations / Purpose of this Study / Methodology / Sample and Data Limitations / Demographic Characteristics of Patients / Pre-Assault Characteristics / Assault Characteristics / Post-Assault Characteristics / Exam Characteristics and Findings / Suspect Characteristics / Legal Resolutions / Appendix A – Data Collection Instrumen

International comparisons of Foundation Phase number domain mathematics knowledge and practice standards

Poor mathematics performance in schools is both a national and an international concern. Teachers ought to be equipped with relevant subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge as one way to address this problem. However, no mathematics knowledge and practice standards have as yet been defined for the preparation of Foundation Phase student teachers in South Africa. To make recommendations for the drafting of such standards for final year Foundation Phase teachers, we compared different policy documents. We performed a document analysis on policy documents from South Africa, The Netherlands, Australia and North Carolina (United States of America), all of which addressed the number domain in mathematics. Our findings indicate that knowledge standards ought to include subject matter knowledge, while practice standards require pedagogical content knowledge, noting that neither of these are fulfilled in the education system in South Africa at present.Key words: foundation phase; knowledge and practice standards; mathematical knowledge; number domain; pedagogical content knowledge; policy documents; subject matter knowledg

Is My Exercise Partner Similar Enough? Partner Characteristics as a Moderator of the Köhler Effect in Exergames

Objective: Recent research has shown the Köhler motivation gain effect (working at a task with a more capable partner where one's performance is indispensable to the group) leads to greater effort in partnered exercise videogame play. The purpose of this article was to examine potential moderators of the Köhler effect by exploring dissimilarities in one's partner's appearance, namely, having an older partner (compared with a same-age partner) and having a heavier-weight partner (compared with a same-weight partner). Subjects and Methods: One hundred fifty-three male and female college students completed a series of plank exercises using the “EyeToy: Kinetic™” for the PlayStation® 2 (Sony, Tokyo, Japan). Participants first completed the exercises individually and, after a rest, completed the same exercises with a virtually present partner. Exercise persistence, subjective effort, self-efficacy beliefs, enjoyment, and intentions to exercise were recorded and analyzed. Results: A significant Köhler motivation gain was observed in all partner conditions (compared with individual controls) such that participants with a partner held the plank exercises longer (P<0.001) and reported higher subjective effort (P<0.01). These results were unmoderated by partner's age and weight, with one exception: Males tended to persist longer when paired with an obese partner (P=0.08). Conclusions: These results suggest that differences in age and weight do not attenuate the Köhler effect in exergames and may even strengthen it

Establishing a meaningful human rights due diligence process for corporations : learning from experience of human rights impact assessment

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, has constructed a new international framework, which is set to become the cornerstone for all action on human rights and business at the international level. The principle of human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the central component of the corporate duty to respect human rights within that framework. This article argues that Ruggie's HRDD principle contains the majority of the core procedural elements that a reasonable human rights impact assessment (HRIA) process should incorporate. It is likely that the majority of corporations will adopt HRIA as a mechanism for meeting their due diligence responsibilities. However, in the context of the contentious debate around corporate human rights performance, the current state of the art in HRIA gives rise to concerns about the credibility and robustness of likely practice. Additional requirements are therefore essential if HRDD is to have a significant impact on corporate human rights performance – requirements in relation to transparency; external participation and verification; and independent monitoring and review

Does Gender Discrimination Impact Regular Mammography Screening? Findings from the Race Differences in Screening Mammography Study

Objective: To determine if gender discrimination, conceptualized as a negative life stressor, is a deterrent to adherence to mammography screening guidelines. Methods: African American and white women (1451) aged 40–79 years who obtained an index screening mammogram at one of five urban hospitals in Connecticut between October 1996 and January 1998 were enrolled in this study. This logistic regression analysis includes the 1229 women who completed telephone interviews at baseline and follow-up (average 29.4 months later) and for whom the study outcome, nonadherence to age-specific mammography screening guidelines, was determined. Gender discrimination was measured as lifetime experience in seven possible situations. Results: Gender discrimination, reported by nearly 38% of the study population, was significantly associated with non-adherence to mammography guidelines in women with annual family incomes of $50,000 or greater (or 1.99, 95% CI 1.33, 2.98) and did not differ across racial/ethnic groups. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that gender discrimination can adversely influence regular mammography screening in some women. With nearly half of women nonadherent to screening mammography guidelines in this study and with decreasing mammography rates nationwide, it is important to address the complexity of nonadherence across subgroups of women. Life stressors, such as experiences of gender discrimination, may have considerable consequences, potentially influencing health prevention prioritization in women

From Victims of Trafficking to Freedom Fighters: Rethinking Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East

Throughout the Middle East migrant women are employed to work in people’s homes. While some experience good working relations with employers, others experience forms of abuse and labour coercion. This chapter evaluates critically different ways that system of unfree labour has been variously described and analysed as a form of ‘contract slavery’, ‘debt bondage’ and ‘trafficking’. It also shows how migrant women who describe themselves as ‘freelancers’ exit their original employer’s home both to escape that relation and in hopes of securing a better situation outside of the regular system of employment. Freelancing is more than simply a form of resistance. Rather, women who work as freelance migrant domestic workers challenge directly that state enforced control over their mobility and are on the vanguard of those migrants who are seeking through their own actions to effect social change

The benthic regeneration of N and P in the Great Brak estuary, South Africa

The Great Brak is a temporarily open/closed estuary (TOCE) located on the south coast of South Africa. The construction of the Wolwedans Dam in 1989 reduced baseflow to the estuary by 56%, decreasing the intensity of flushing events and causing the mouth to breach less often. The aim of this study was to  investigate the flux of inorganic nutrients (NH4 +, TOxN [NO3 - + NO2 -], SRP) as well as total N and P across the  sediment–water interface in the estuary. There have been very few studies on nutrient cycling and benthic  pelagic coupling in South African estuaries. This study showed that the sediment had a net efflux of NH4 +, SRP, TN and TP while TOxN was taken up or converted to other forms of N. The estuary acted as a source of N and P during both summer and winter. If the estuary  remains closed for a prolonged period (12 months), with an increased organic load present on the benthos, the associated rates of efflux of N and P would increase. In order to reduce the organic load to the system better flushing methods or, more importantly, an increase in base flow, is needed to reduce residence times of water in the estuary.Keywords: water quality, nutrient cycling, benthic-pelagic coupling, estuar

'Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place': Anti-discrimination Legislation in the Liberal State and the Fate of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act

This article offers a critical analysis of some of the practical implications for disabled people of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992. Specifically, it raises questions about politics and the role of the law as an instrument of social change?taking greater account of the interests of disabled people?on the one hand, and of the reliance of the social model of disability on a strategy based upon legal rights on the other. The article also suggests that the constraining effects of Australia's constitutional protections of rights and its federal system of government hinder the mildly progressive elements of the Disability Discrimination Act. To illustrate this, the paper employs empirical evidence to suggest that these effects have been exacerbated by the passage of the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Act in 1999