Australia's energy options: policy choice not economic inevitability

Executive summary A reliable and affordable supply of energy is a fundamental component to a vibrant economy. As a major source of commodities, including significant known reserves of low carbon emission energy sources, Australia is well positioned to supply the world’s future energy needs. In order for that to occur, Australia needs to examine all its energy options. The Government released a Draft Energy White paper in November 2011. CEDA considers this an opportunity that the Government should not miss in ensuring that Australia not only develops its energy resources for national economic gain but also to guarantee access to reasonably priced energy for Australian consumers. CEDA determined it would contribute to this significant debate by undertaking a year-long research project that examined Australia’s future energy options. As part of this research project CEDA published three policy perspectives that addressed Australia’s nuclear, renewables and efficiency and unconventional energy options. Recommendations in each of these perspectives were made with the specific aim of providing policy-makers with evidence-based research on the various energy sources either currently available or being actively explored and researched, often funded through the public purse. Fundamental governance decisions underpinned by strong economic policy arguments were at the centre of these recommendations. This final research report canvasses one of the more significant current debates associated with the availability of energy – the Australian electricity market. It puts forward a series of recommendations designed to enhance this element of the energy sector’s efficiency, security and effectiveness by placing consumers at the centre of the energy market and a reform agenda is proposed. Related identifier: ISBN 0 85801 284

Marketing with Mobile Push Notifications in a Location Specific Context

Businesses have employed different tactics over the years to market directly to individual consumers. These range from blind mailing flyers to direct targeted Internet advertisements. Many forms of marketing are effective, but none of them incorporate contextual information based on a person’s current location in real time. Apple’s iBeacon technology and the Bluetooth LE protocol make this easier than ever. Beacons can be placed in physical locations throughout a store and emit pulses that mobile applications can subscribe to. In this project, a highly scalable marketing system using iBeacon and the iOS platform was built to send push notifications to users based on their proximity to the University Book Store. Content was provided to people to draw them into the bookstore for the purpose of increasing foot traffic and ultimately increasing sales. Analytics were captured to answer questions about how many people walk through the building housing the book store, how many users received notifications and how many acted on them

An Experimental Approach to Optimizing Automated Hybrid Ventilation in Complex Buildings

Complex buildings such as hospitals and laboratories require intensive ventilation and cooling loads in order to meet operational demands. One way to reduce energy use while meeting these demanding requirements in complex buildings is the incorporation of hybrid ventilation in areas that do not require high and continuous loads such as public spaces. This research establishes an experimental approach to test and analyze various hybrid ventilation strategies in an occupied, complex building utilizing hybrid ventilation in public spaces. To optimize the use of hybrid ventilation, this research focuses on tracking three performance criteria: energy savings, occupant comfort and indoor-air quality. The framework establishes a variety of hybrid ventilation strategies to test, and outlines how to analyze results graphically and through linear regression modeling. This experimental approach is illustrated through a case study example of a laboratory building located in Madison - Wisconsin, where the selection of the ideal hybrid ventilation strategy for the public space studied resulted in 56 percent average savings in ventilation and cooling load when HV is in use, and established a potential to use hybrid ventilation for 28 percent of the 111 day cooling season (20 percent savings in mechanical cooling over the summer)

Factors affecting mercury concentrations in Iowa fishes

Mercury contamination in aquatic ecosystems is a global concern due to the health risks of consuming contaminated aquatic organisms, particularly fishes. Mercury concentrations in fishes are highly variable and influenced by a range of biotic and abiotic variables. Currently, factors influencing mercury accumulation in Iowa fishes are not well understood. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has issued fish consumption advisories for various lakes and river reaches throughout the state. However, relatively few systems, species, and individuals are sampled each year and little is known regarding factors affecting mercury concentrations in Iowa fishes. An understanding of factors regulating mercury concentrations in Iowa fishes would improve mercury monitoring programs and consumption guidelines. The objectives of this study were to (I) evaluate seasonal variation in mercury concentrations in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) from two reservoirs to assess the need for temporally standardized mercury sampling and (II) evaluate the influence of a suite of biotic and abiotic factors on fish mercury concentrations in both river and lake systems. Largemouth bass were intensively sampled from Red Haw and Twelve Mile lakes to evaluate temporal variation in largemouth bass mercury concentrations. Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus, n = 275), white and black crappie (Pomoxis annularis, n = 112; P. nigromaculatus, n = 203), largemouth bass (n = 502), walleye (Sander vitreus, n = 248), muskellunge (Esox masquinongy, n = 30), and northern pike (E. lucius, n = 45) were collected between April and October, 2013-2015, from natural lakes (n = 6), shallow natural lakes (n = 2), constructed lakes (n = 18), and reservoirs (n = 4) throughout Iowa. Additionally, channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus, n = 205), flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris, n = 123), northern pike (Esox lucius, n = 60), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu, n = 176), and walleye (Sander vitreus, n = 176) were collected between March and October, 2014-2015, from ten Iowa interior rivers and tested for mercury contamination. Fish were collected from an upstream and a downstream location on six of the rivers to test for intra-river differences in fish mercury concentrations. Various land use, water chemistry, and fish characteristics were gathered and used to explain differences in mercury concentrations within and across lake and river systems. Largemouth bass mercury concentrations varied across months in Red Haw Lake, with the highest concentrations observed during July, and the lowest concentrations observed during October. In contrast, largemouth bass mercury concentrations were similar across months in Twelve Mile Lake. Fish mercury concentrations in Iowa lakes are generally low, with mercury concentrations \u3c0.30 mg/kg for ~90% of fishes collected and mercury concentrations below detectable levels (\u3c0.05 mg/kg) for ~40% of fishes. Multiple linear regression models, sorted by AICc, were used to evaluate factors related to fish mercury concentrations in lakes and rivers. Detected mercury concentrations were highest in muskellunge, northern pike, walleye and largemouth bass, lowest in black and white crappie and bluegill, and positively related to fish length and age. Although not significantly different across all species, females generally had higher mercury concentrations than males. Additionally, pH, lake mean depth, watershed area to lake area ratio, and percent of watershed as forested land, grasslands and open water were positively related to fish mercury concentrations, whereas lake area and percent of watershed as agriculture and developed land were negatively related to mercury concentrations. Finally, detected mercury concentrations were on average 28% higher in shallow natural lakes compared to other lake types. Combined, these factors explained 74% of the variation in detectable fish mercury concentrations. Fish mercury concentrations in Iowa rivers were also generally low (mean = 0.17 mg/kg, N = 740). Mercury concentrations were highest in flathead catfish, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and walleye but lowest in channel catfish. Fish mercury concentrations were positively related to length, age, trophic position and δ13C signatures. Human Threat Index and percent of watershed as open water were negatively related to fish mercury concentrations, whereas percent of watershed as forested land was positively related to fish mercury concentrations. Additionally, phosphorous (mg/L), nitrogen-ammonia (mg/L), and sulfate (mg/L) were weakly negatively related to mercury concentrations, whereas water hardness (as CaCO3, mg/L) was weakly positively related to fish mercury concentrations. Additionally, fishes collected from the Paleozoic Plateau ecoregion had the highest mercury concentrations compared to those collected from other ecoregions across Iowa. Together, these factors explained 70% of the variation in river fish mercury concentrations. Results of this study suggest less impacted watersheds, particularly watersheds with less agricultural impacts, tend to have higher fish mercury concentrations compared to watersheds that have a high proportion of agriculture. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of abiotic and biotic factors influencing fish mercury concentrations in Iowa and may have implications for refining consumption advisories

Hegemonic Masculinities and Children’s Picture Books

This study focused on the role of hegemonic masculinities in children’s picture books. Chiefly, marginalized and subordinated masculinities are highlighted to investigate their relationships with dominant and complicit masculinities. This was done under a feminist reading of patriarchy and the connection between patriarchy and masculinities. Utilizing a critical discourse analysis framework, the author problematizes the personal transformation of the protagonists in three children’s picture books. The personal transformation attends to the masculine subject on an individual level, but fails to address how hegemonic masculinities and patriarchy operate at a discursive and corporeal level. Suggestions are made from the findings on promoting new ways of addressing gender inequities in the U.S

Misfits and the Celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Youth At a High School in the United States

As part of a six-month case study, this article delineated the relationship between homonormativity and the victimization of students in a high school in the United States by investigating the strategies of policing, resistance, and queering. Not only do these strategies reappropriate practices inherent in homonormative practices, these strategies reconfigure practices associated with heteronormativity and homophobia. The undercurrent of this research highlights how schools marginalize identities in some spaces and elevate identities in other spaces, the socio-political readings of that positioning, and what educators can do to promote an inclusive environment for all students

Liquid-Feed Flame Spray Pyrolysis Synthesis of Oxide Nanopowders for the Processing of Ceramic Composites.

In the liquid-feed flame spray pyrolysis (LF-FSP) process, alcohol solutions of metalloorganic precursors are aerosolized by O2 and combusted. The metal oxide combustion products are rapidly quenched (< 10 ms) from flame temperatures of 1500°C to temperatures < 400° C, limiting particle growth. The resulting nanopowders are typically agglomerated but unaggregated. Here, we demonstrate two processing approaches to dense materials: nanopowders with the exact composition, and mixed single metal oxide nanopowders. The effect of the initial degree of phase separation on the final microstructures was determined by sintering studies. Our first studies included the production of yttrium aluminum garnet, Y3Al5O12 (YAG), tubes which we extruded from a thermoplastic/ceramic blend. At equivalent final densities, we found finer grain sizes in the from the mixed Y2O¬3 and Al2O3 nanopowders, which was attributed to densification occurring before full transformation to the YAG phase. The enhanced densification in production of pure YAG from the reactive sintering process led us to produce composites in the YAG/α-Al2O3 system. Finally, a third Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) phase was added to further refine grain sizes using the same two processing approaches. In a separate study, single-phase metastable Al2O3 rich spinels with the composition MO•3Al2O3 where M = Mg, Ni, and Co were sintered to produce dense MAl2O4/α-Al2O3 composites. All of these studies provide a test of the bottom-up approach; that is, how the initial length scale of mixing affects the final composite microstructure. Overall, the length scale of mixing is highly dependent upon the specific oxide composites studied. This work provides a processing framework to be adopted by other researchers to further refine microstructural size. LF-FSP flame temperatures were mapped using different alcohols with different heats of combustion: methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, and n-butanol. The effect of different alcohols on particle size and phase was determined through studies on Al2O3, Y2O3 and TiO2 nanopowders. The final studies describe the morphology of composite nanopowders produced in the WO3-TiO2 and CuO-TiO2 systems. The composite nanopowders have novel morphology, and may offer novel electronic, optical, or catalytic properties.PhDMaterials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116657/1/taylornj_1.pd

Weak Priority Monism: A New Theory of the Fundamental

In this PhD dissertation, I am defending a new version of Priority Monism, which I call Weak Priority Monism: that the Cosmos is fundamental and is identical to the collective plurality of its proper parts. This distinguishes it from the version of Priority Monism defended by Jonathan Schaffer, in that, unlike him, I accept the thesis composition as identity. I argue that Weak Priority Monism is preferable to Schaffer’s monism as not only can all the arguments for his version of monism be also utilised by the weak priority monist, but they also have two decisive advantages over Schafferian Priority Monism (i.e. what I call Strong Priority Monism). Firstly, they are able to explain how the Cosmos can ground all its proper parts in ‘weak’ junky worlds; and secondly, they have a novel solution to the problem of heterogeneity which is superior to any solution available to Schaffer. In accepting composition as identity, however, Weak Priority Monism is a controversial view. It might be thought, for one, that composition as identity entails that the irreflexivity of grounding/dependence is violated: as if some things are identical to the mereological fusion they are grounded in, then it would seemingly be the case that those things grounded themselves. However, I will show that this is not necessarily the case, and that we can make sense of some plurality of things collectively grounding each of those things in the plurality, without it being the case that each of those things ground themselves. Indeed, as I shall argue, there is still a distinction between the fundamental and derivative, even if turns out that all the proper parts of the Cosmos taken collectively are fundamental. Weak Priority Monism then, as we shall see, is a promising new position on what is fundamental

Managing Church, Politics, and the End of the World: Analysis of Baptist Ecclesiology, Eschatology, and the Remobilization of Conservative Baptists in the Moral Majority

The sudden and formidable political mobilization of fundamentalist Christians in the mid-to-late 1970’s quickly garnered the attention of politicians, pastors, and political scientists alike. Since the success of the Moral Majority in the 1980s, social science researchers have dedicated special attention to the intersection of religion and social life; however, such considerations have largely neglected to sufficiently discover why fundamentalist Christians were seemingly predisposed for the high levels of political activity characteristic of the Moral Majority. Building on a historical analysis of Baptist ecclesiological and eschatological development, the purpose of this research is to consider the theological framework behind the emergence of the Moral Majority from 1979 to 1981 by investigating the development of the Baptist political theology of political activity. Historical and textual analyses are conducted, exploring relevant theological developments from 1533 to 1989 in ecclesiological and eschatological teaching. Initial findings signal that Baptists have a well-documented history of political activity in America and that the emergence and popularity of the Moral Majority likely paralleled the ecclesiological “Conservative Resurgence” in the SBC. Further, the role of the SBC as an alternative body politic is explored and ecclesiastical socialization is discussed. The final results of this research could be used to more precisely tailor methodologies for studies in the field of religion and politics for any religious or political group

Linking Cooperative Education and Education for sustainability: A New Direction for Cooperative Education?

In this article the authors propose that co-op practitioners and researchers need to constantly re-examine the practice and future of cooperative education. Co-op currently introduces large numbers of graduates into the business and manufacturing employment sectors. A number of authors have argued that co-op graduates rapidly advance in companies and assume middle and senior management roles. These co-op graduates and their non-co-op counterparts become the business and commercial leaders of the future. Here we argue that one beneficial future direction for co-op could be in the area of graduate understanding about education for sustainability (EfS). This paper begins with a description of the principles that underpin concepts for both EfS and cooperative education and examines three propositions as to how cooperative education might act as a vehicle for delivering aspects of EfS