The Economic Impact of a Sporting Event: A Regional Approach

This paper aims to estimate the economic impact of a large one-day international sporting event on both a regional and a city economy. In addition, it seeks to investigate the regional origins of visitors to the event, and investigates the relationship between residence and expenditure. The importance of sporting events to regional economies is recognised, but can be difficult to quantify due to the scale and nature of the data required. This analysis draws on over 5,000 spectator interviews conducted at the five one-day rugby internationals (Scotland versus England, France, Romania, South Africa and Fiji) held in Edinburgh, Scotland, during 2002. As such it represents one of the largest databases of its kind in Europe. Spectators were asked about their expenditure, residence, accommodation and attitudes to future visits. Findings were triangulated using a parallel survey of business turnover. The survey data is used to estimate the economic impact on both the wide region (Scotland) and the city region (Edinburgh). Our findings indicate that each match may be worth around £20m to the Scottish economy and £12m to the city of Edinburgh economy. We argue that although this appears large, the methodology used may have resulted in an estimate that is slightly conservative if anything. This points to a greater need for local, regional and national government to exploit the potential that such events can have. We also found that the origin profile of spectators differs between matches, naturally reflecting the origins of the visiting crowd, but more importantly there are also notable regional differences in expenditure patterns among visitors from each nation. We examine the possible reasons for this and the implications for regional and city tourism marketing strategies.

Emulating Simulations of Cosmic Dawn for 21cm Power Spectrum Constraints on Cosmology, Reionization, and X-ray Heating

Current and upcoming radio interferometric experiments are aiming to make a statistical characterization of the high-redshift 21cm fluctuation signal spanning the hydrogen reionization and X-ray heating epochs of the universe. However, connecting 21cm statistics to underlying physical parameters is complicated by the theoretical challenge of modeling the relevant physics at computational speeds quick enough to enable exploration of the high dimensional and weakly constrained parameter space. In this work, we use machine learning algorithms to build a fast emulator that mimics expensive simulations of the 21cm signal across a wide parameter space to high precision. We embed our emulator within a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo framework, enabling it to explore the posterior distribution over a large number of model parameters, including those that govern the Epoch of Reionization, the Epoch of X-ray Heating, and cosmology. As a worked example, we use our emulator to present an updated parameter constraint forecast for the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array experiment, showing that its characterization of a fiducial 21cm power spectrum will considerably narrow the allowed parameter space of reionization and heating parameters, and could help strengthen Planck's constraints on $\sigma_8$. We provide both our generalized emulator code and its implementation specifically for 21cm parameter constraints as publicly available software.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures; accepted to Ap

Evidence for polarised boron in Co-B and Fe-B alloys

By exploiting the tunability of synchrotron radiation in measurements of spin-resolved photoemission it has proved possible to obtain information on the polarisation of the valence electrons of Co-B and Fe-B amorphous magnetic alloys, Both the spin-integrated and spin-resolved energy distribution curves show a marked dependence on photon energy indicating that the p states of boron hybridise with the d states of the transition metals giving rise to mixed states in the binding energy range 1 to 5 eV, The observed polarisation and spin-resolved densities of states imply that in the above restricted energy range there is a net negative polarisation of the boron states

Making shipping greener: A vessel’s waste heat recovery system comparative study between organic fluids and water

The largest source of energy loss in a ship is found in the propulsion system. This study focuses on the concept of managing waste heat energy from the exhaust gas. Using waste heat recovery systems to make shipping more efficient represents a good area of opportunity for achieving the shipping industry’s green objectives. Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) have been applied in land based systems before, showing improvements in performance when compared with the traditional Rankine cycle (RC). ORC plants on board ships face different challenges such as variable operating conditions and limited space. As marine environmental rules require greener vessels and engine thermal efficiency continue to increase, ORC waste heat recovery systems become a more attractive option. The proposed waste heat recovery system (WHRS) was modelled using Matlab with a typical ship installation with a slow speed diesel engine and the WHRS installed after the turbo compressors in the exhaust gas system. The energy recovered from the exhaust gas flow is transformed via the thermodynamic cycle into electricity which will help to cover the ship’s demand. The Matlab code found the highest electric power output varying the WHRS high pressure, maximizing the fuel and CO2 emission reductions. Water and various organic fluids were considered as working fluids and their performance compared over a range of different engine operating scenarios in order to assess the differences between a marine ORC and RC. A representative ship operating profile and a typical marine generator were used to measure CO2 emission reductions and the implications of having flammable organic fluids on-board. This work demonstrates that a simple ORC can be more effective than water based RC for the same engine operating condition

Experimental and theoretical investigation of plasma radiation Semi-annual status report, Mar. - Aug. 1969

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Safety and CO2 emissions: Implications of using organic fluids in a ship’s waste heat recovery system

Current Marine Policies and regulations greatly favour the use of efficiency enhancing technologies such as the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) waste heat recovery systems (WHRS), through the entry into force of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). However, safety regulations such as IMO Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS), International Gas Code and Classification Societies still consider the use of highly flammable organic fluids on board ships as hazardous and undesirable, requiring special Administration approval. The benefits of organic fluids in emerging technologies will likely increase their usefulness on board in the near future. Furthermore, current ship safety systems and integrated platform management systems greatly reduce the risks associated with their low flash point making them acceptable for marine use given specific design considerations. This paper studies the case of an Aframax tanker navigating the route North Sea – Naantali, Finland using a slow speed diesel engine. A code with a multi-objective optimization approach generated explicitly for this purpose produces different optimal WHRS designs for the vessel’s operating profile. The WHRS is installed after the turbo compressors in the exhaust gas system, where it absorbs part of the available waste heat and converts it to electricity using a generator. This results in a reduction in fuel consumption, hence decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases. The different optimal designs are compared with a steam WHRS to show the strengths and weaknesses of using an ORC WHRS on board. The ORC technology is at its early stages of development in the marine field, it is important that safety policies follow the evolution of the technology and its associated safety equipment. This paper will serve to recognize the specific safety considerations associated with the ORC and highlight the advantages of carrying organic fluids on board as a solution to increasing CO2 emission restrictions and other environmental concerns

Improving Shipping CO₂ emissions: A multi-objective study of marine Waste Heat Recovery Systems

Holding the global temperature rise below 2˚C, when compared to the global pre-industrial levels, is one of the most challenging compromises taken by the international community. Shipping contributes in 3.3% of the total CO2 emissions and it is the transport mode with the highest growth, hence it has an important role in achieving the 2˚C goal

Waste Heat Recovery Systems: Reducing Shipping Carbon Emissions under Real Operative Conditions

Shipping contributes in 3.3% of the total CO2 emissions, it is the transport mode with the highest growth. If nothing is done now, by 2050 the shipping CO2 emissions could grow up to 400% compared with 2007 levels. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) created the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)- applied only to new ships- to measure and control shipping CO2 emissions. As can be observed in figure 1, as time increases the CO2 emissions reference line (red line) is reduced