A predictive model of energy savings from top of rail friction control

In this paper the authors present a predictive model of train energy requirements due to the application of a top of rail friction modifier (TOR-FM) versus dry wheel / rail conditions. Using the VAMPIRE® Pro simulation package, train energy requirements are modeled for two sets of TOR-FM frictional conditions, one using full Kalker coefficients and the other by using a Kalker factor of 18%. Both scenarios use a top of rail saturated coefficient of friction of 0.35. Under both TOR-FM frictional conditions, train energy savings are shown for complete laps of the Transportation Technology Center Inc.’s (TTCI) Transit Test Track (TTT) loop, and also when isolating only the tangent section of the loop. However, the magnitude of energy savings varies greatly depending on the Kalker coefficient factor used, highlighting the need to model this relationship as accurately as possible. These simulation results are compared with data obtained from a field study, in which train energy savings of 5.3% (lap) and 7.8% (tangent) are shown due to the application of TOR-FM

An optimal method of moments to measure the charge asymmetry at the Z0Z^0

Parity violation at LEP or SLC can be measured through the charge asymmetry. An optimal method of moments is developed here to measure this asymmetry, as well as similar asymmetries. This method is equivalent to the likelihood fit. It is simpler in use, as it gives analytical formulas for both the asymmetry and its statistical error. These formulas give the dependence of the accuracy on the experimental angular acceptance explicitly.Comment: 7 pages of uuencoded postscript, NIKHEF preprint NIKHEF-H/94-0

Case study: managing open access with EPrints software

Recent additional open access (OA) requirements for publications by authors at UK higher education institutions require amendments to support mechanisms. These additional requirements arose primarily from the Research Councils UK Open Access Policy applicable from April 2013, and the new OA policy for Research Excellence Framework eligibility published in March 2014 and applicable from April 2016. Further provision also had to be made for compliance with the UK Charities Open Access Fund, the European Union, other funder policies, and internal reporting requirements. In response, the University of Glasgow has enhanced its OA processes and systems. This case study charts our journey towards managing OA via our EPrints repository. The aim was to consolidate and manage OA information in one central place to increase efficiency of recording, tracking and reporting. We are delighted that considerable time savings and reduction in errors have been achieved by dispensing with spreadsheets to record decisions about OA

Research Data Discovery Service Final Report

A project report that outlines the University of Glasgow's participation in the UK Research Data Discovery Project funded by Jisc from March 2015 to September 2016

Farming smarter, not harder: securing our agricultural economy

In the context of rising global demand, resource scarcity, and environmental pressures, this report considers the future of Australian agriculture. Global populations are growing and food prices are skyrocketing. This creates new market opportunities for Australian agriculture. But Australia has fragile and vulnerable soils, which are being degraded at an unsustainable rate. If we continue with ‘business as usual’, we will keep losing soils faster than they can be replaced. Acting now to improve soil condition could increase agricultural production by up to 2.1 billion per year. It could also help farmers cut costs on fertiliser and water use. “Winners of the food boom will be countries with less fossil fuel intensive agriculture, more reliable production, and access to healthy land and soils” said the report’s lead author Laura Eadie. “How we manage our land and soils will be key to whether Australia sees more of the upsides or downsides of rising global food demand.” Farming Smarter, Not Harder finds that Australian agriculture can build a lasting competitive advantage through innovation that raises agricultural productivity, reduces fuel and fertiliser dependence, and preserves the environment and resources it draws on. To achieve this, Australia needs to: Invest in knowledge: increase government investment in research and development by up to 7% a year; increase funding for extension programs; implement the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to set up Rural Research Australia; fund the national soil health strategy with an endowment sufficient to support ongoing research and monitoring for at least 20 years. Stop chopping and changing support for regional natural resource management: Federal and State governments should commit to a 10-year agreement to provide stable longterm funding for regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) bodies, including specific funding to monitor long-term trends in natural resource condition. Enable accountable community governance of land and soil management: To enable farming communities to protect themselves from free-riding, they should be supported to develop stewardship standards based on a shared understanding of what it takes to maintain productive agricultural landscapes over the long term. Align financial incentives with the long-term needs of sustainable farming communities: In addition to the drought policy reforms announced on October 26, drought assistance policies should support farming communities to take a lead in preparations for more frequent and severe droughts, and should be linked to community stewardship standards. “Recent projections indicate the potential doubling of exports by 2050, according to the National Food Plan and ANZ-commissioned Greener Pastures report. Our work looks at how to support farmers dealing with the practical challenges of seizing this opportunity, in the context of soil degradation and rising input costs”, said Laura Eadie. The case to increase research funding and foster innovative farming is made even stronger by the likely impacts of climate change. Without action to adapt to more variable and extreme weather, by 2050 Australia could lose 6.5 billion per year in wheat, beef, mutton, lamb and dairy production. The report profiles leading farmers who are already seeing the benefits of innovations in sustainable farming. It proposes simple measures to support them and the agricultural communities that depend on healthy farming landscapes. Download Farming Smarter, Not Harder report in full [Australia\u27s newly appointed Advocate for Soil Health, Michael Jeffery, also chairs the non-profit organisation Soils for Life which is already actively encouraging wider adoption of smarter farming. The Soils for Life report Innovations for Regenerative Landscape Management showcases a range of case studies of these farming innovations in practise, and the positive economic, environmental and social outcomes they are achieving. Read the case studies, learn more about the challenges landscape degradation will bring and what we can do about it at www.soilsforlife.org.au.

Preserving our marine wealth: an economic evaluation of the proposed Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network

This report looks at the proven benefits of marine parks for fish stocks (and therefore for the fishing industry), and estimates the value of ecosystem services provided by areas to be covered by the new marine parks. It also puts the modest and short-term economic impacts of the new marine reserves on the fishing industry in context, noting the need to avoid the flaws in the Great Barrier Reef compensation package, and looking at the advantages of designing compensation to support the long-term profitability of commercial fishers in Australia. Key findings: • CPD’s analysis shows that the new National Marine Parks in the Proposed Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network cover an area that provides $1.2 billion a year in ecosystem service value that is not recognised in our economic accounts, bringing the total value of Australia’s fully-protected Marine Parks to$2 billion a year in ecosystem services. • CPD has estimated the value of ecosystem services covered by the fully-protected National Parks only. We have calculated the economic value provided by four categories of marine ecosystem: coral reefs, seagrasses, coastal shelf and open ocean. Each of these areas provides services of value such as nurseries for fish, carbon storage, etc. • Australia can be very proud of having taken such a strong step to protect its marine resources. Preserving the marine environment will help to secure Australia’s marine economy, underpinning the long-term productivity of our marine estate. • The Proposed Marine Reserves Network covers 36% of Australia’s marine territory. The fully- protected part, the National Marine Parks, cover 13% of the total. In the other 23% recreational fishing is allowed and some kinds of commercial fishing, varying by zoning. Most of the reserve restricts the most damaging forms of fishing including bottom trawling – this is likely to deliver long- term benefits for recreational fishers and commercial fishers using more sustainable practices. • The National Marine Parks, areas closed to fishing, are an essential part of preserving marine ecosystems and marine life, including fishing for the longer term. Given the high economic value provided by coral reefs, seagrasses, and coastal shelf areas, more of these areas should have been included in marine parks under the Proposed Marine Reserves Network • Marine parks have been shown to have numerous benefits, leading to larger fish and more biodiversity. The parks make marine ecosystems more resilient to environmental shocks and act as restocking areas for the surrounding waters. Studies show that in the long run they provide benefits to fishers. Recent studies on marine parks in the Great Barrier Reef find that they are working as they are supposed to – rebuilding the biomass of local fish populations in ways that are likely to deliver long-term benefits to fishers. • The Great Barrier Reef compensation package, which blew out to $250 million, would form a very poor precedent for compensating fishers who are displaced by the Marine Reserves Network. The Finance Minister at the time, Nick Minchin, thought that the Great Barrier Reef package was too large. Initial estimates of the value of fishing production displaced by the Great Barrier Reef rezoning were$14 million a year, but dropped to $3-$7 million after accounting for the fact that many fishers were able to shift to other areas. Initial estimates are that $11.1 million a year of commercial fishing production may be displaced by the newly announced Marine Reserves Network.$100 million, a figure flagged by Minister Tony Burke as available for compensation, would be a generous compensation package. • Compensation should be implemented along the lines of the ‘Securing our Fishing Future’ package to ease rather than displace long-term pressures on fish stocks and the profitability of the fishing industry

An in-depth analysis of e-procurement use in UK construction organisations

Eadie et al (2007) show that there are many advantages in the adoption of e-procurement within a construction organisation. However, its uptake within the construction industry has been inadequately researched. Martin (2003, 2008) investigated e-procurement use across quantity surveying organisations in United Kingdom. However, the picture is not complete as other disciplines within construction are not considered. This paper seeks to address this issue. Martin (2003, 2008) does not seek to identify the sizes or spend on procurement activities by those quantity surveying organisations who have adopted the use of e-procurement. This paper investigates the correlations between size, procurement spend and adoption of e-procurement. A survey was conducted in two parts: the initial survey looked at 70 contractors in Northern Ireland which had carried out e-procurement. This was followed by the main survey, which contained a telephone survey followed by a web-based survey. The telephone survey of 775 organisations identified the amount of e-procurement in construction within the United Kingdom. This was followed by a web-based questionnaire survey of the identified organisations on e-procurement for construction based activities. These produced a breakdown of e-procurement use and spend on completion of pricing documentation across the construction industry

Going solar: renewing Australia’s electricity options

Recent debates around electricity prices and renewable energy policy have ignored the crucial factors of rapidly dropping solar technology costs, and the critical risks involved in continuing with \u27business as usual\u27. Going solar is the first economic assessment of future electricity price shocks if fossil fuels continue to dominate. The report takes a close look at Australia’s electricity price security and singles out rising gas prices and more frequent droughts as key risks. Prices for gas-fired electricity are now linked to volatile international fuel prices. Water scarcity reduces supply from water-cooled coal plants, pushing up wholesale electricity prices. Without stable policies to support renewable energy, we risk future bill shocks of up to $250 a year for the average household, plus supply interruptions. Embracing the shift to renewable energy – a line powerfully supported by trends in the USA and China – can reduce vulnerability to electricity price shocks and energy insecurity. Rising popularity and rapidly falling costs put rooftop solar at the leading edge of this change, threatening traditional electricity business models

Analysis of the use of e-procurement in the public and private sectors of the UK construction industry

Summary: Eadie et.al (2010a, 2010b) identified 20 advantages in the adoption of e-procurement within a construction organisation. The Glover report (2008) indicated that by the end of 2010 all public sector procurement should be electronic. The use of e-procurement within the construction industry has been inadequately researched. Martin (2009) examined quantity surveying organisations perspectives on the use of e procurement across the United Kingdom. This paper seeks to address the knowledge gap that exists in the analysis of the level of usage of e-procurement within the construction industry. It compares the findings for the construction industry with other industries on company size and spend. Martin (2009) does not seek to investigate the size or spend on procurement activities of those quantity surveying organisations who have adopted e-procurement. This paper investigates the correlations between size, procurement spend and adoption of e-procurement in construction organisations comparing it with other industries. It concludes that the findings of Griloa and Jardim-Goncalves (2010) and European Commission (2007) were correct in suggesting that the AEC sector has been lagging behind other sectors in the adoption of e-procurement and provides a breakdown of the different types of organisations who currently use e-procurement. It further identifies the size of organisations which have implemented e-procurement within construction. On the client and consultant side in traditional contracts, company sizes of 21-50 employees make the highest use of eprocurement. This confirms that when analysing according to the size of organisation, construction organisations perform in a similar way to other industries as reported in Batenburg (2007) and Gunasekarana and Ngai (2008). However, this study indicates that very small companies may still be put off by the costs of software (corroborates De Boer et al, 2002; Kauffman and Mohtadi, 2004). The study proposes the types of construction organisation most likely to be utilising the benefits of eprocurement in construction by procurement spend and size. It also indicates that the deadlines in the Glover report (2008) relating to e-procurement in construction are unlikely to be met