Financing Cleantech SME innovation: setting an agenda

The need for a clear research and policy agenda to assist early stage Cleantech financing has never been greater. These businesses may hold important keys to unlocking vital globally game changing technologies to tackle climate change. The paper provides an overview of recent academic literature and proposes a research agenda for early stage Cleantech SME finance. With growing interest in how to support innovations that tackle the climate emergency, there is a need for evidence that can assist the private sector, civil society organizations and policymakers in finding more effective ways to encourage impact investing and other finance for early stage Cleantech SMEs. This research agenda will therefore contribute to sustainability transitions in key sectors and the development of a sustainable low carbon economy

Improving market institutions and urban food supplies for the urban poor: a comparative study of Nigeria and Zambia.

This study examines the systems which govern the marketing opportunities for informal urban and peri-urban cultivators, and for rural producers, in our two study countries, Nigeria and Zambia and it explores the mechanisms of marketing food in urban areas. Our literature review illustrates how little is known about how these formal and informal regulatory systems currently operate. For example, the positive contribution of both urban-based and rural-based traders in providing an essential service to urban consumers has not been adequately analysed

Opening access to administrative data for evaluating public services: the case of the Justice Data Lab

As government administrative data sets are increasingly made available for new (non-administrative) purposes, there is a need to improve access to such resources for voluntary and community organizations, social enterprises and private businesses for statistical analysis and evaluation purposes. The Justice Data Lab set up by the Ministry of Justice in the UK presents an innovative case of how administrative data can be linked to other data held by organizations delivering public services. The establishment of a unit within a secure setting holding evaluation and statistical expertise has enabled providers of programmes aimed at reducing re-offending to obtain evidence on how the impact of their interventions differs from that of a matched comparison group. This article explores the development of the Justice Data Lab, the methodological and other challenges faced, and the experiences of user organizations. The article draws out implications for future development of Data Labs and the use of administrative data for the evaluation of public services

Valley splitting of Si/SiGe heterostructures in tilted magnetic fields

We have investigated the valley splitting of two-dimensional electrons in high quality Si/Si$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$ heterostructures under tilted magnetic fields. For all the samples in our study, the valley splitting at filling factor $\nu=3$ ($\Delta_3$) is significantly different before and after the coincidence angle, at which energy levels cross at the Fermi level. On both sides of the coincidence, a linear density dependence of $\Delta_3$ on the electron density was observed, while the slope of these two configurations differs by more than a factor of two. We argue that screening of the Coulomb interaction from the low-lying filled levels, which also explains the observed spin-dependent resistivity, is responsible for the large difference of $\Delta_3$ before and after the coincidence.Comment: REVTEX 4 pages, 4 figure

Fluorescent Silicon Clusters and Nanoparticles

The fluorescence of silicon clusters is reviewed. Atomic clusters of silicon have been at the focus of research for several decades because of the relevance of size effects for material properties, the importance of silicon in electronics and the potential applications in bio-medicine. To date numerous examples of nanostructured forms of fluorescent silicon have been reported. This article introduces the principles and underlying concepts relevant for fluorescence of nanostructured silicon such as excitation, energy relaxation, radiative and non-radiative decay pathways and surface passivation. Experimental methods for the production of silicon clusters are presented. The geometric and electronic properties are reviewed and the implications for the ability to emit fluorescence are discussed. Free and pure silicon clusters produced in molecular beams appear to have properties that are unfavourable for light emission. However, when passivated or embedded in a suitable host, they may emit fluorescence. The current available data show that both quantum confinement and localised transitions, often at the surface, are responsible for fluorescence. By building silicon clusters atom by atom, and by embedding them in shells atom by atom, new insights into the microscopic origins of fluorescence from nanoscale silicon can be expected.Comment: 5 figures, chapter in "Silicon Nanomaterials Sourcebook", editor Klaus D. Sattler, CRC Press, August 201

Clean catalytic combustor program

A combustor program was conducted to evolve and to identify the technology needed for, and to establish the credibility of, using combustors with catalytic reactors in modern high-pressure-ratio aircraft turbine engines. Two selected catalytic combustor concepts were designed, fabricated, and evaluated. The combustors were sized for use in the NASA/General Electric Energy Efficient Engine (E3). One of the combustor designs was a basic parallel-staged double-annular combustor. The second design was also a parallel-staged combustor but employed reverse flow cannular catalytic reactors. Subcomponent tests of fuel injection systems and of catalytic reactors for use in the combustion system were also conducted. Very low-level pollutant emissions and excellent combustor performance were achieved. However, it was obvious from these tests that extensive development of fuel/air preparation systems and considerable advancement in the steady-state operating temperature capability of catalytic reactor materials will be required prior to the consideration of catalytic combustion systems for use in high-pressure-ratio aircraft turbine engines

Siting Transmission Lines in a Changed Milieu: Evolving Notions of the "Public Interest" In Balancing State and Regional Considerations

This Article discusses how state public utility law presents a barrier to the siting of new high voltage transmission lines to serve renewable resources, and how states could approach its evolution in order to preserve a role for state regulators in a new energy economy in which renewable energy will play a significant role. The traditional approach to determining the "public interest" in siting transmission lines is well on its way to obsolescence. Two developments over the past fifteen years have begun to challenge this paradigm. First, policies at the federal level and in many states have encouraged increased competition in generation, contributing to de-monopolization of the bulk power side of the industry. Second, the increased emphasis on environmental, energy independence, and other public policy objectives, has resulted in a dramatically increased demand for renewable energy, particularly given heightened attention to climate change. Given that wind power -- the most economically viable renewable resource on a bulk power basis -- is feasible predominantly in locations far removed from, load centers, the demand for new multistate transmission facilities has been brought clearly into focus. After an introduction in Part I, Part II describes the existing arrangements in several resource rich Western states for siting new transmission lines, and the coexistence of those arrangements with a conventional understanding of the public interest in determining need and addressing environmental concerns under traditional state transmission siting laws. Part III discusses transmission issues related to the competitive wholesale market and increased attention to climate change and highlights how federal law has expanded to accommodate some of these concerns. Part IV emphasizes the need for a new definition of the public interest which might better reflect these new market circumstances and opportunities, and highlights the two main barriers to this: 1) legislative and/or regulatory inertia and 2) an outdated cost-allocation model. The public interest under most state siting statutes is sufficiently capacious to give regulators some flexibility to evolve, but in other instances legislative action may be needed. In addition, the state cost-of-service ratemaking model must evolve to a more regional approach to allocating the costs of new transmission

On Deriving Nested Calculi for Intuitionistic Logics from Semantic Systems

This paper shows how to derive nested calculi from labelled calculi for propositional intuitionistic logic and first-order intuitionistic logic with constant domains, thus connecting the general results for labelled calculi with the more refined formalism of nested sequents. The extraction of nested calculi from labelled calculi obtains via considerations pertaining to the elimination of structural rules in labelled derivations. Each aspect of the extraction process is motivated and detailed, showing that each nested calculus inherits favorable proof-theoretic properties from its associated labelled calculus

Electrical activation and electron spin resonance measurements of implanted bismuth in isotopically enriched silicon-28

We have performed continuous wave and pulsed electron spin resonance measurements of implanted bismuth donors in isotopically enriched silicon-28. Donors are electrically activated via thermal annealing with minimal diffusion. Damage from bismuth ion implantation is repaired during thermal annealing as evidenced by narrow spin resonance linewidths (B_pp=12uT and long spin coherence times T_2=0.7ms, at temperature T=8K). The results qualify ion implanted bismuth as a promising candidate for spin qubit integration in silicon.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Raising a Small Flock of Sheep in Ohio

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