Opportunities for Stationary Fuel Cell Applications in Ohio: Public Finance and Other Strategies

Ohio has not, heretofore, been a major player in the deployment of stationary fuel cell applications, notwithstanding its status as a leader in developing fuel cell technology. One reason for this is that in the years since fuel cells became commercially available, fuel cell power generation had struggled to be cost effective in Ohio due to a combination low electricity prices and high natural gas prices, the latter being the most common fuel for stationary fuel cell applications. By 2015, this had changed. The Mid-Atlantic region was enjoying the lowest natural gas prices in North America as a result of regional shale development. Meanwhile, wholesale electricity prices in the PJM Interconnect regional transmission organization (Mid-Atlantic region) are among the highest in the nation. This has created therein a historically high “spark spread” -- the term used to describe the price differential between wholesale natural gas and electricity. What’s more, fuel cell generation qualifies for net metering, and may be valued at retail costs. Finally, additional new value for the avoided costs of carbon and other emissions may be derived from new ultra-efficient fuel cell technologies. As for other nascent technologies, early adoption will likely require public-private financing partnerships. There are available federal, state and local financing strategies to enable the deployment of fuel cells in Ohio. Loan programs such as the Energy Loan Fund and Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds can be used to support fuel cell demonstration with low interest loans. Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds may also soon be available to support fuel cell deployment, depending upon pending Ohio legislation. In addition, the Public Utility Commission of Ohio has within its authority to support power purchase agreements or special arrangements for buyers to support generation that is in the interest of Ohio ratepayers (such as when it promotes economic development). The best places to acquire natural gas for power generation on long-term, fixed prices will be at gathering points along the natural gas pipeline and processing system. Such points offer natural gas producers the most flexibility to supply natural gas long term. Most of the gathering and processing points are currently located in southeastern Ohio, however new interstate pipelines are being built across northern Ohio. This new infrastructure may provide opportunities to locate stationary fuel cells in the generation, transmission and capacity-constrained northern Ohio market. Low gas prices may also provide opportunities for stationary fuel cell applications using low temperature fuel cells. Such fuel cells run directly on hydrogen, and heretofore, the costs of manufacturing, transporting and storing hydrogen has made the economics for such generation difficult. Low hydrogen feedstock costs, together with the ability low temperature fuel cells have to supply the lucrative peak loading market, may make such applications cost effective in the near term

Työkyvyn hallinta, seuranta ja varhainen tuki : Tutkimus sairausvakuutuslain vuoden 2011 muutoksen vaikutuksista työpaikkojen toimintaan

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin vuoden 2011 sairausvakuutuslain muutoksen vaikutuksia työkyvyn hallintaan, seurantaan ja varhaiseen tukeen. Sairausvakuutuslakimuutos (L 1056/2010) edellyttää, että ”työpaikalla on yhteistyössä työterveyshuollon kanssa sovitut käytännöt siitä, miten työkyvyn hallintaa, seurantaa ja varhaista tukea toteutetaan työpaikan ja työterveyshuollon yhteisenä toimintana”, jotta työterveyshuollon korvausluokkaan 1 kuuluvista palveluista aiheutuvista kustannuksista korvattaisiin 50 %:n sijaan 60 %. Tutkimus toteutettiin kahdessa vaiheessa. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa tehtiin laaja, sähköinen kyselytutkimus, johon osallistui yli 1 000 työnantajaa. Toisessa vaiheessa kartoitettiin syvemmin työnantajien hyviksi kokemia työkyvyn hallinnan käytäntöjä sekä kehitysehdotuksia case-tutkimuksen menetelmin suppeammasta 22 työnantajan otoksesta. Tämän lisäksi haastateltiin viittä eri työterveyshuollon palveluntuottajaa. Yli 85 % kyselytutkimukseen osallistuneista ilmoitti sopineensa toimintakäytännöistä tai laatineensa toimenpideohjelman yhteistyössä työterveyshuollon kanssa, mikä on noin 10 prosenttiyksikköä enemmän kuin ennen vuotta 2011. Erilaisille toimintamalleille on laadittu suunnitelmia melko kattavasti, mutta suunnitelmien seuranta ei ole vielä systemaattista: suunnitelmiin ei ole kytketty tavoitteita, ja seurattavat mittarit puolestaan eivät välttämättä kytkeydy suunnitelmiin. Suurin osa tutkimuksen toiseen vaiheeseen osallistuneista organisaatioista koki lakimuutoksen onnistuneeksi tavaksi edistää työkyvyn hallintaa. Osallistuneissa organisaatioissa työkyvyn hallinta ja varhainen tuki on tullut viime vuosina keskimäärin systemaattisemmaksi ja tavoitteellisemmaksi. Haastateltavat kuitenkin korostivat organisaation omaa toimintaa ja valmiutta tärkeämmäksi työkyvyn hallinnassa. Haastateltavat pitivät suunnitelmien tekoa melko hyödyllisenä työkyvyn hallinnan kannalta ja osasivat mainita esimerkkejä hyvistä työkykykäytännöistä. Tavoitteiden seuranta ja mittaaminen ei kuitenkaan ole niin systemaattista kuin laajat suunnitelmat antaisivat olettaa. Tavoitteet on suunnitelmissa ilmaistu tyypillisesti yleisellä tasolla, jolloin niitä on vaikea mitata tai asettaa tavoitetasoja. Työpaikoilla seurataankin tyypillisesti helposti mitattavia asioita, kuten työtapaturmia, sairauspoissaoloja ja ennenaikaisia eläköitymisiä. Nämä kuvastavat myöhäisen vaiheen ongelmia. Varhaisen vaiheen tunnistamista tai ennaltaehkäisyn toteutumista ei seurata, oletettavasti niiden vaikean mitattavuuden vuoksi, vaikka tavoitteista nämä teemat löytyvät. Työkyvyn hallinnan kehittäminen on monivaiheinen prosessi, joka lähteäkseen käyntiin edellyttää yleistä tietoisuutta työkyvyn hallinnasta sekä henkilöstöasioista vastaavien tahojen kykyä kommunikoida muun johdon kanssa työkyvyn hallinnan kustannusvaikuttavuudesta. Onnistunut työkyvyn hallinta edellyttää lisäksi, että johto on sitoutunut siihen, sisäinen viestintä esimiehille ja työntekijöille toimii ja että henkilöstö osallistuu prosessiin

Biosynthesis of γ-aminobutyric acid by lactic acid bacteria in surplus bread and its use in bread making

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of bread as substrate for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) biosynthesis, establishing a valorization strategy for surplus bread, repurposing it within the food chain. Methods and results: Surplus bread was fermented by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to produce GABA. Pediococcus pentosaceus F01, Levilactobacillus brevis MRS4, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum H64 and C48 were selected among 33 LAB strains for the ability to synthesize GABA. Four fermentation experiments were set up using surplus bread as such, added of amylolytic and proteolytic enzymes, modifying the pH or mixed with wheat bran. Enzyme-treated slurries led to the release of glucose (up to 20 mg g-1 ) and free amino acid, whereas the addition of wheat bran (30% of bread weight) yielded the highest GABA content (circa 800 mg kg-1 of dry weight) and was the most suitable substrate for LAB growth. The selected slurry was ultimately used as an ingredient in bread making causing an increase in free amino acids. Conclusions: Besides the high GABA concentration (148 mg kg-1 dough), the experimental bread developed in this study was characterized by good nutritional properties, highlighting the efficacy of tailored bioprocessing technologies as means to mitigate food wastage. Significance and impact of study: Our results represent a proof of concept of effective strategies to repurpose food industry side streams

Researching Cultural Objects and Manuscripts in a Small Country: The Finnish Experience of Raising Awareness of Art Crime

In this article we shed light on the position of Finland in conversations on the movement of unprovenanced cultural objects, within the national, the Nordic and the global contexts. Finland's geopolitical position, as a hard border of the European Union neighbouring the Russian Federation, and its current legislative provisions, which do not include import regulations, mean that it has the potential to be significant in understanding the movement of cultural property at transnational levels. In particular, we outline a recent initiative started at the University of Helsinki to kick-start a national debate on ethical working with cultural objects and manuscripts. We analyse exploratory research on current awareness and opinion within Finland, and summarize our current work to produce robust research ethics to guide scholars working in Finland. Although Finland has a small population and is usually absent from international discussions on the illicit movement of cultural property (save a few exceptions), we argue that it is still possibleand importantfor scholars and others in Finland to affect policy and attitudes concerning art crime, provenance, and the role of stakeholders such as decision-makers, traders and the academy

Driving a low critical current Josephson junction array with a mode-locked laser

Data for article "Driving a low critical current Josephson junction array with a mode-locked laser"

Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of self-management interventions in four high-priority chronic conditions in Europe (COMPAR-EU): a research protocol

Introduction Population ageing and increasing chronic illness burden have sparked interest in innovative care models. While self-management interventions (SMIs) are drawing increasing attention, evidence of their efficacy is mostly based on pairwise meta-analysis, generally derived from randomised controlled trials comparing interventions versus a control or no intervention. As such, relevant efficacy data for comparisons among dif

Reliability Analysis of Component-Based Systems with Multiple Failure Modes

This paper presents a novel approach to the reliability modeling and analysis of a component-based system that allows dealing with multiple failure modes and studying the error propagation among components. The proposed model permits to specify the components attitude to produce, propagate, transform or mask different failure modes. These component-level reliability specifications together with information about systems global structure allow precise estimation of reliability properties by means of analytical closed formulas, probabilistic modelchecking or simulation methods. To support the rapid identification of components that could heavily affect systems reliability, we also show how our modeling approach easily support the automated estimation of the system sensitivity to variations in the reliability properties of its components. The results of this analysis allow system designers and developers to identify critical components where it is worth spending additional improvement efforts

Towards a framework for work package allocation for GSD

Proceeding of: Proceeding of: OTM 2011 Workshops: Confederated International Workshops and Posters: EI2N+NSF ICE, ICSP+INBAST, ISDE, ORM, OTMA, SWWS+MONET+SeDeS, and VADER 2011, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, October 17-21, 2011Global software development is an inexorable trend in the software industry. The impact of the trend in conventional software development can be found in many of its aspects. One of them is task or work package allocation. Task allocation was traditionally driven by resource competency and availability but GSD introduces new complexities to this process including time-zones differences, costs and cultural differences. In this work a report on the construction of a framework for work-package allocation within GSD projects is presented. This framework lies on three main pillars: individual and organizational competency, organizational customization and sound assessment methods.This work is supported by the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) under the Eureka Project E! 6244 PROPS-Tour and the national cooperation project SEM-IDi (IDI-20091150)

Immune response costs are associated with changes in resource acquisition and not resource reallocation

1. Evolutionary ecologists frequently argue that parasite defence is costly because resources must be reallocated from other life-history traits to fuel the immune response. However, this hypothesis is rarely explicitly tested. An alternative possibility is that immune responses impair an organism's ability to acquire the resources it needs to support metabolism. Here, we disentangle these opposing hypotheses for why the activation costs of parasite resistance arise. 2. We studied fecundity costs associated with immune stimulation in Drosophila melanogaster. Then, by measuring correlated changes in metabolic rate, food consumption and body weight, we assessed whether responses were consistent with immunity costs originating from altered resource allocation or from impaired resource acquisition. 3. Microbial injection resulted in a 45% fecundity decrease. It also triggered a mean decline in metabolic rate of 6% and a mean reduction in food intake of 31%; body weight was unaffected. Metabolic rate downregulation was greater in males than in females, whereas declines in food ingestion were of similar magnitude in both sexes. These physiological shifts did not depend on whether microbial challenges were alive or dead, thus they resulted from immune system activation not pathogenesis. 4. These costs of immune activation are significant for individuals that successfully resist infection and might also occur in other situations when immune responses are upregulated without infection. 5. Whilst we found significant activation costs of resistance, our data provide no compelling evidence for the popularly argued hypothesis that immune deployment is costly because of reallocation of energetic resources to the immune system. Instead, reduction in resource acquisition due to ‘infection-induced anorexia' may be the principal driver of metabolic changes and fecundity costs resulting from immune response activation