Should we pay for ecosystem service outputs, inputs or both?

Payments for ecosystem service outputs have recently become a popular policy prescription for a range of agri-environmental schemes. The focus of this paper is on the choice of contract instruments to incentivise the provision of ecosystem service outputs from farms. The farmer is better informed than the regulator in terms of hidden information about costs and hidden-actions relating to effort. The results show that with perfect information, the regulator can contract equivalently on inputs or outputs. With hidden information, input-based contracts are more cost effective at reducing the informational rent related to adverse selection than output-based contracts. Mixed contracts are also cost-effective, especially where one input is not observable. Such contracts allow the regulator to target variables that are “costly-to-fake” as opposed to those prone to moral hazard such as effort. Further results are given for fixed price contracts and input-based contracts with moral hazard. The model is extended to include a discussion of repeated contracting and the scope that exists for the regulator to benefit from information revealed by the initial choice of contract. The models are applied to a case study of contracting with farmers to protect high biodiversity native vegetation that also provides socially-valuable ecosystem services

State estimation applied to active distribution networks with minimal measurements

Traditionally, state estimation is applied to transmission networks to improve security and redundancy of the measurement system. This paper describes the application of state estimation to distribution networks in order to extend the observability of the network. Key features of this application are that the network is active, minimal real measurements are available and that there is minimal communications infrastructure. this paper presents results ffrom a field trial whihc manages voltages in an 11kV distribution network with distributed generation. The paper highlights the problems associated with this application and presents some solutions

Fabrication and characterization of free-standing thick-film piezoelectric cantilevers for energy harvesting

Research into energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has attracted great interest over the last few years, largely as a result of advances in the areas of wireless technology and low power electronics. One of the mechanisms for converting mechanical vibration to electrical energy is the use of piezoelectric materials, typically operating as a cantilever in a bending mode, which generate a voltage across the electrodes when they are stressed. Typically, the piezoelectric materials are deposited on a non-electro-active substrate and are physically clamped at one end to a rigid base. The presence of the substrate does not contribute directly to the electrical output, but merely serves as a mechanical supporting platform, which can pose difficulties for integration with other microelectronic devices. The aim of this paper is to describe a novel thick-film free-standing cantilever structure that does not use a supporting platform and has the advantage of minimising the movement constraints on the piezoelectric material, thereby maximising the electrical output power. Two configurations of composite cantilever structure were investigated; unimorph and multimorph. A unimorph consists of a pair of silver/palladium (Ag/Pd) electrodes sandwiching a laminar layer of lead zirconate titanate (PZT). A multimorph is an extended version of the unimorph with two pairs of Ag/Pd electrodes and three laminar sections of PZT

Sensor Networks for Maritime Deployment: Modeling and Simulation

Simulation is widely used in Wireless Sensor Networks to assess the feasibility and performance of design decisions before the deployment, assisting the development of optimal solutions or trade-offs. In this paper, we address the particular case of a sensor network deployed at sea, where hundreds or thousands of sensing nodes drift with the stream and organise into a network capable of transmitting results to a remote station. A new simulator was built to address the particularities of the wireless models required to correctly understand the application scenario. The models provide realistic channel simulation, along with additive interference from other sources, where all transmissions are considered independently. The receiver decides which transmission was first and what is the level of noise from the environment and contending nodes. Network algorithms were implemented and compared using different network sizes and parameters. Results show that algorithms are sensitive to deployment conditions and respond differently to each set of environmental parameters

Radiography teaching under the lens- using student therapeutic radiographers as co-researchers to re-imagine teaching observation

• Author(s) Nick White • Keywords Teaching quality, observation. • Introduction The introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has heralded a greater scrutiny on the quality of teaching and learning in universities. This assessment has traditionally been made via teaching observation and rarely involves students as participants in the process. In this project our aim was to re-imagine teaching assessment as a partnership between our radiotherapy teaching team and our students who acted as co-observers and co-researchers1. • Method Over a two year period, two members of academic staff and two students worked within a case study to collaboratively observe, reflect and research a range of teaching activities. Each of the two observation cycles included pre-sessional frame setting, discussion, observation and then debrief through dialogue. In cycle 2 the focus of observation was student led. Their chosen focus was observation and analysis of how peer to peer interactivity affects group work. Reflective accounts from within each of the research cycles provided a corpus of data for our analysis. In this paper the outcome from the second cycle of co-observation is reported. • Results Students provided critical insights into the role that group interaction and group cohesiveness has on the perceived success of teaching and learning activities. Our students readily identified differing learning styles employed by their peers and this framed their understanding of the effectiveness of the taught sessions. Students described the process of learning as dynamic and complex. In particular students determined the importance of social cohesion of the tutor group as being a factor that determines the success of learning activities, and that the tutors were successful where they were able to exploit and ‘work’ this group dynamic. • Discussion and Conclusion Students provide valuable insights that we have used to assess and evaluate our teaching and learning activities. These are most powerfully used when students work collaboratively with tutors in a formalised manner. Classroom learning is traditionally ‘messy’ and assessment of ‘effectiveness’ is nuanced by many factors some of which can only be validated from the perspective of learners themselves. Ref 1- http://blogs.bcu.ac.uk/collaborativeobservation

Taking One for the Team: Should Colleges be Liable for Injuries Occurring During Student Participation in Club Sports?

Since the 1970s, colleges have not been liable for their adult students\u27 actions or injuries, but courts have since delineated many exceptions to this rule. This Note will analyze the effect of college involvement in club sports as to whether it creates a duty for a college to protect its club athletes and those they might injure. This Note will also examine whether such a duty might exist in the future if the current trends in the law and college policy continue unchecked. Finally, this Note will address the effectiveness of the current defenses to liability and the effect of college regulation in the context of a college student\u27s desire to participate in club sports. The exculpatory agreement, or assumption of risk form, has become the modern day answer to countless liability issues. As with most legal defense mechanisms for liability, however, there are exceptions to its applicability--this Note will determine whether a student who becomes injured or causes injury to another individual while participating in a club activity calls for such an exception

Authors' Reply: Response to Ian Clark

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