How Ready Are People for Cashless Society?

Financial technology could be an effective tool to achieve financial inclusion. However, it needed a certain level of readiness of society. In this paper, we investigated the determinants of readiness in the implementation of digital financial services which led to cashless society. We did a survey on 993 adults in a province in Indonesia using proportional sampling technique. Estimated using ordinary least square, our empirical results showed that readiness perception had high correlation with the quality of supporting infrastructure. By taking into account some demographic factors, we found that more educated and younger people had high spirit to adopt this system. Evidence showed that men were more enthusiastic in using such technological-based system. However, we did not find an evidence on the difference of readiness perception between those living in rural and those living urban areas. Teknologi keuangan dapat menjadi suatu alat yang efektif untuk mencapai inklusi keuangan. Namun, itu memerlukan tingkat kesiapan masyarakat yang cukup. Dalam paper ini, kami meneliti determinan dari kesiapan implementasi layanan keuangan digital yang mendorong pada masyarakat non-tunai. Kami melakukan survei pada 993 orang dewasa in suatu provinsi di Indonesia dengan menggunakan metode pengambilan sampel proporsional. Diestimasi menggunakan ordinary least square, hasil empiris kami menunjukkan bahwa persepsi kesiapan berkorelasi tinggi dengan kualitas dari infrastruktur pendukung. Dengan memasukkan beberapa faktor demografi, kami menemukan bahwa orang yang lebih teredukasi dan lebih muda bersemangat untuk mengadopsi sistem ini. Sedikit bukti ditemukan bahwa laki-laki lebih antusias untuk menggunakan sistem berbasis teknologi tersebut. Namun demikian, kami tidak menemukan bukti mengenai perbedaaan persepsi kesiapan antara mereka yang tinggal di daerah pedesaan dan perkotaan

SupernetNL program: 3.4 km 110 kV AC underground superconducting cable in the Dutch grid

TenneT, a leading European electricity transmission system operator (TSO) is planning to install a 3.4 km long underground superconducting 110 kV cable as part of the Dutch electricity grid, in the city of Enschede. HTS cables have already been demonstrated on a relatively small scale in other countries, but they are usually not part of the meshed high-voltage grid and the length of the relevant cable section generally does not exceed 1 km. In 2009, a 600-meter section of HTS cable was installed in New York, and in 2014 a 1-km long section was taken in operation in Essen, Germany to replace a 10 kV AC medium-voltage line. In the Supernet NL program, TenneT is working together with several leading knowledge institutes including University of Twente, Delft University of Technology, the Institute of Science and Sustain- able Development (IWO), HAN University of Applied Sciences and RH Marine. These institutes have been investigating control engineering aspects and the requirements the cable must meet. In the meantime, the tender process has been started which consists of two phases. In the fi rst phase (summer 2017) appropriate candidates are selected directly followed by a call for tender in August. Receipt of the best and fi nal offer is scheduled for the end of November. In the presentation, the project will be introduced and requirements will be discussed, specifi cally focusing on the cryogenic aspects

Impact of solid retention time and nitrification capacity on the ability of activated sludge to remove pharmaceuticals

Removal of five acidic pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac and clofibric acid) by activated sludge from five municipal activated sludge treatment processes, with various sludge ages and nitrification capacities, was assessed through batch experiments. The increase in aerobic sludge age from 1-3 to 7 d seemed to be critical for the removal of naproxen and ketoprofen, with markedly higher rates of removal at sludge ages of 7 d or more. No removal was shown for diclofenac and clofibric acid, whereas high rates were observed for ibuprofen in all investigated sludges. Parallel examinations of activated sludge batches with and without allylthiourea (12 mg/L), an inhibitor of ammonia monooxygenase, showed minor to moderate influence on the removal rates of ketoprofen and naproxen. These results suggest that the removal rates of biodegradable pharmaceuticals in municipal activated sludge processes are strongly linked to the heterotrophic bacteria community