A New Design Method for Vanadium Redox Batteries in Renewable Energy Systems

This study investigated the behavior of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs), which are batteries capable of easily switching between charging and discharging modes, making them a suitable option for storing intermittent sources of alternative energies (solar, wind, etc). Since different sizes of the battery provide varying voltages, optimal parameters for a particular home are key for implementation. These parameters, specifically the cell and tank volumes of the battery that are capable of providing consistent on-load voltage, were determined using data from a 13 kW solar array and a medium-sized house. Charge/discharge current values were used to run a mathematical model that provided on-load voltage over time graphs based on parameter input values. Using this model, the optimal parameter values were found to be 11.5 L for the cell volume and 103.7 L for the tank volume, which maintenained the on-load voltage well above 0.80 V (10% of cell standard emf)

Is acting prosocially beneficial for the credit market?

This article argues that behaving prosocially implies more transparent information during the negotiation process of a financial contract and more cooperation among the parties to respect the terms of the contract. For this reason this work considers interest rate on loans and insolvency rate functions of prosocial behaviour along with the traditional socio-economic and financial collaterals. The context of study is Italy and the analysis is developed at a cross-regional level. We collect data from the two reports on “Relatives and Safety Net” produced by the Italian Centre Bureau of Statistics (ISTAT) in 1998 and 2003 and from the reports on “Regional Economics” produced by the Bank of Italy in the same years. A two-period panel model shows two interesting outcomes. Firstly, regions with a higher proportion of prosocial individuals report lower interest rates on loans and insolvency rates. Secondly, when we include the efficiency of legal enforcement, evidence supports the idea that a more efficient legal framework can act as a more reliable transmission mechanism of institutional norms and facilitate the internalisation of social norms

Irreducible Modules over Finite Simple Lie Pseudoalgebras I. Primitive Pseudoalgebras of Type W and S

One of the algebraic structures that has emerged recently in the study of the operator product expansions of chiral fields in conformal field theory is that of a Lie conformal algebra [K]. A Lie pseudoalgebra is a generalization of the notion of a Lie conformal algebra for which C[\partial] is replaced by the universal enveloping algebra H of a finite-dimensional Lie algebra [BDK]. The finite (i.e., finitely generated over H) simple Lie pseudoalgebras were classified in [BDK]. In a series of papers, starting with the present one, we classify all irreducible finite modules over finite simple Lie pseudoalgebras.Comment: 51 pages; minor change

Electronic health information and long term conditions

This article discusses the increasing availability of health-related information, and the impact that this can have for people with long-term conditions’ expectations of healthcare providers. The article suggests a framework for decision making about the role that healthcare staff should play in the information searching, retrieval, and synthesis activities which people with long-term conditions engage in. The framework is based on a series of decisions related to: perceptions of ownership of long-term conditions; whether intermediatory or apomediatory approaches to information management are deemed to be most appropriate; and, as a result of these considerations, what, if any, place healthcare staff should take in the process of patients searching or and interpreting information about long-term health needs. These decisions will enable healthcare providers to plan services based on clear decision pathways, and to clarify to all concerned what are deemed to be reasonable expectations of health service provision

The Paradox of Compacts: final report to the Home Office on monitoring the impact of Compacts

The Compact is an important building block in achieving a better relationship between Government and the voluntary and community sector. We are fully committed to partnership working with the sector and increasing their role in civil society and in the delivery of public s e rvices. The Compact helps us to work better together, so that we can better meet the needs of communities

Learning from contract change in primary care dentistry: a qualitative study of stakeholders in the north of England

The aim of this research was to explore and synthesise learning from stakeholders (NHS dentists, commissioners and patients) approximately five years on from the introduction of a new NHS dental contract in England. The case study involved a purposive sample of stakeholders associated with a former NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the north of England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 commissioners of NHS dental services and 5 NHS general dental practitioners. Three focus group meetings were held with 14 NHS dental patients. All focus groups and interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using a framework approach. Four themes were identified: ‘commissioners’ views of managing local NHS dental services’; ‘the risks of commissioning for patient access’; ‘costs, contract currency and commissioning constraints’; and ‘local decision-making and future priorities’. Commissioners reported that much of their time was spent managing existing contracts rather than commissioning services. Patients were unclear about the NHS dental charge bands and dentists strongly criticised the contract's target-driven approach which was centred upon them generating ‘units of dental activity’. NHS commissioners remained relatively constrained in their abilities to reallocate dental resources amongst contracts. The national focus upon practitioners achieving their units of dental activity appeared to outweigh interest in the quality of dental care provided

Measuring Inequalities in the Distribution of Health Workers: The case of Tanzania.

The overall human resource shortages and the distributional inequalities in the health workforce in many developing countries are well acknowledged. However, little has been done to measure the degree of inequality systematically. Moreover, few attempts have been made to analyse the implications of using alternative measures of health care needs in the measurement of health workforce distributional inequalities. Most studies have implicitly relied on population levels as the only criterion for measuring health care needs. This paper attempts to achieve two objectives. First, it describes and measures health worker distributional inequalities in Tanzania on a per capita basis; second, it suggests and applies additional health care needs indicators in the measurement of distributional inequalities. We plotted Lorenz and concentration curves to illustrate graphically the distribution of the total health workforce and the cadre-specific (skill mix) distributions. Alternative indicators of health care needs were illustrated by concentration curves. Inequalities were measured by calculating Gini and concentration indices.\ud There are significant inequalities in the distribution of health workers per capita. Overall, the population quintile with the fewest health workers per capita accounts for only 8% of all health workers, while the quintile with the most health workers accounts for 46%. Inequality is perceptible across both urban and rural districts. Skill mix inequalities are also large. Districts with a small share of the health workforce (relative to their population levels have an even smaller share of highly trained medical personnel. A small share of highly trained personnel is compensated by a larger share of clinical officers (a middle-level cadre) but not by a larger share of untrained health workers. Clinical officers are relatively equally distributed. Distributional inequalities tend to be more pronounced when under-five deaths are used as an indicator of health care needs. Conversely, if health care needs are measured by HIV prevalence, the distributional inequalities appear to decline. The measure of inequality in the distribution of the health workforce may depend strongly on the underlying measure of health care needs. In cases of a non-uniform distribution of health care needs across geographical areas, other measures of health care needs than population levels may have to be developed in order to ensure a more meaningful measurement of distributional inequalities of the health workforce

Field test of multi-hop image sensing network prototype on a city-wide scale

Open Access funded by Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommuniocations Under a Creative Commons license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Wireless multimedia sensor network drastically stretches the horizon of traditional monitoring and surveillance systems, of which most existing research have utilised Zigbee or WiFi as the communication technology. Both technologies use ultra high frequencies (mainly 2.4 GHz) and suffer from relatively short transmission range (i.e. 100 m line-of-sight). The objective of this paper is to assess the feasibility and potential of transmitting image information using RF modules with lower frequencies (e.g. 433 MHz) in order to achieve a larger scale deployment such as a city scenario. Arduino platform is used for its low cost and simplicity. The details of hardware properties are elaborated in the article, followed by an investigation of optimum configurations for the system. Upon an initial range testing outcome of over 2000 m line-of-sight transmission distance, the prototype network has been installed in a real life city plot for further examination of performance. A range of suitable applications has been proposed along with suggestions for future research.Peer reviewe