Profiting From Purpose: Profiles of Success and Challenge in Eight Social Purpose Businesses

Offers an in-depth analysis of eight community-based human service and youth-serving nonprofit organizations that received assistance from Seedco's Nonprofit Venture Network to develop their capacity to launch social purpose businesses

NIWRG\u27s Memo in Support for Mtn SJ

North Idaho Water Rights Alliance Memorandum in Support of the North Idaho Water Rights Group\u27s Motion for Summary Judgmen

NIWRG\u27s Memo in Support for Mtn SJ

North Idaho Water Rights Alliance Memorandum in Support of the North Idaho Water Rights Group\u27s Motion for Summary Judgmen

NIWRG\u27s Mtn SJ

North Idaho Water Rights Group\u27s Motion for Summary Judgmen

NIWRG\u27s Mtn SJ

North Idaho Water Rights Group\u27s Motion for Summary Judgmen

Implementing the HSE Policy on Calorie Posting in staff canteens with external catering provider

Calorie posting is a behaviour change intervention adopted in the fight against obesity. In 2014 the HSE commenced the development of a Policy on Calorie Posting. This project implemented calorie posting in two HSE canteens working with a large scale external catering provider. The scope of this project was not to determine should calorie posting be implemented but rather to implement and make recommendations for the development of the policy and inform the national HSE implementation. The literature was reviewed to assess the effectiveness of calorie posting and to identify the most effective manner of implementing. The implementation of calorie posting provides an ideal opportunity for the HSE to lead by example in developing a healthy workplace environment, while delivering a healthy message not alone to approximately 100,000 staff who avail of these services but to the many millions of people who also visit these settings as visitors or outpatients. The project delivered a very successful implementation and identified recommendations to support the full implementation in the HSE. 34% of staff indicated that calorie posting had caused them to make a change when selecting their food and beverages. This project demonstrated that calorie posting is more than a technical project and can achieve behaviour change to reduce obesity and can therefore be referred to as a behaviour change project that should focus on the people aspect of change and include a “calorie” awareness information campaign

Assessment of Two Methods of Enhancing Thermal Mass Performance of Concrete Through the Incorporation of Phase-Change Materials

According to the IEA Technology Roadmap on Energy Efficient Building Envelopes, buildings are responsible for more than one third of global energy consumption, with space heating and cooling consuming 33% of this energy, and increasing to 50% in cold climates. Using the mass of a building to store heat and/ or cold can reduce the demand on the auxillary heating and/or cooling systems and hence reduce the overall energy demand of the building. In this study the thermal storage capacity of concrete was actively enhanced by integrating phase-change materials (PCMs) which provide a high latent heat storage capacity. Two methods of incorporating PCMs into concrete were used to form PCM/concrete composite panels. The first type of panel was formed by adding microencapsulated paraffin to fresh concrete during the mixing process. The second panel was formed by vacuum impregnating butyl stearate into lightweight aggregate which was then included in the concrete mix. The aim of the study was to compare the thermal behaviour of both PCM/concrete composite panels to a control concrete panel and to evaluate which method of PCM incorporation is the most effective at improving thermal mass characteristics in the context of a thermal energy storage system for space heating/cooling in a building. The panels containing PCM displayed significantly greater thermal storage capacity, despite having reduced thermal conductivity and density. The study concluded that the panel containing lightweight aggregate/PCM composite is more effective at providing additional thermal storage, particularly within the first 100mm of depth of an element of structure

Energy and Cost Saving of a Photovoltaic-Phase Change Materials (PV-PCM) System through Temperature Regulation and Performance Enhancement of Photovoltaics

The current research seeks to maintain high photovoltaic (PV) efficiency and increased operating PV life by maintaining them at a lower temperature. Solid-liquid phase change materials (PCM) are integrated into PV panels to absorb excess heat by latent heat absorption mechanism and regulate PV temperature. Electrical and thermal energy efficiency analysis of PV-PCM systems is conducted to evaluate their effectiveness in two different climates. Finally costs incurred due to inclusion of PCM into PV system and the resulting benefits are discussed in this paper. The results show that such systems are financially viable in higher temperature and higher solar radiation environment

The rewards of caring for grandchildren: Black Canadian grandmothers who are custodial parents, co-parents, and extensive babysitters

Grandparent caregiving is a growing phenomenon in both the United States and Canada. The burgeoning research on the topic has focused on custodial grandparents with an emphasis on negative aspects including poor physical and mental health outcomes for older adults. Less attention has been paid to the rewards of grandparent caregiving and to different intensities of caregiving provision. This grounded theory qualitative study of 16 Black Caribbean Canadian grandmothers sought to address this gap in the literature. We examined three types of grandparent caregivers: custodial grandparents (n=7), co-parent grandparents (n=5) and extensive babysitters (n=4). The average age of the children varied by caregiver modality: custodial grandmothers cared for slighter older children (mean age 10.4 years), followed by co-parent grandmothers (mean age of 8.1 years). Extensive babysitter grandmothers cared for younger children (mean age of 6.6 years). The three types of caregiving grandparents reported substantial similarities in their perceptions of the rewards of caregiving. Results reveal five main themes: (1) Grandmothers’ responsibilities and pride of care giving; (2) Grandmothers keeping the family close together and safe; (3) Mutual respect between grandmothers and grandchildren; (4) Caregiving provides grandmothers with a sense of purpose; and (5) Grandchildren are fun! Implications of these findings in light of Erikson’s concept of generativity, will be discussed