OPTIMAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT OF A HYBRID SOLAR WATER HEATING SYSTEM WITH GRID CONNECTION UNDER TIME-BASED PRICING

Published ThesisIn South Africa, 40 to 60% of the total energy of a normal residential building can be allocated to the heating of water. Traditionally, a standard electric storage tank-water heater (ESTWH) has been the main device for residential water heating within the country. However, as a result of the increase in the South African population, economy and living standards have led to an energy shortage, which has resulted in a steadily increasing electricity price. As an attempt to solve this electricity crisis, Eskom, the main electricity supplier, has recently introduced energy management activities such as energy efficiency (EE) and the use of renewable energy (RE) systems. On the one hand, the EE activities consist of reducing the total (overall) energy consumption during all the time periods, while load management (LM) activities aim to reduce the energy consumption during given time periods, such as peak times, when the Eskom grid cannot meet the demand. During peak times, the electricity consumption is charged at higher rates to encourage customers to shift their loads to off-peak and standard periods when the electricity is at a lower cost. This type of tariff is referred to as time-of-use (TOU) electricity tariff. With TOU, customers can therefore reduce their electricity bills by shifting load demands away from the peak time periods. On the other hand, in order to reduce the larger amount of residential peak load demand, renewable energy systems, such as the solar water heater (SWH), was recently introduced and implemented in South Africa as a replacement to the ESTWH. However, it has been observed that SWHs was not continuously meeting the thermal comfort of the users, under certain weather conditions. During winter, for instance, the amount of thermal energy required is greater than that of summer due to the temperature difference of the water that needs to be heated, while the solar radiation in winter is considerably less due to shorter days and the position of the sun with reference to the earth’s location. As a solution to this, the coupling of the SWH with the ESTWH, referred to as hybrid solar water heating (HSWH) system, is nowadays seen as technical and economic feasible option for water heating in South Africa. The system is composed of a solar collector that uses solar radiation to increase the temperature of water and the ESTWH, which stores the hot water. In the case of poor solar radiation, the SWH fails to increase the temperature of water to the comfortable level; therefore, the required temperature is maintained by the ESTWH. However, implementing optimal energy management of the HSWH can help to meet the required thermal comfort level while reducing the electricity cost, even more so when the TOU tariff is implemented. With this in mind, the aim of this work is to develop an optimal energy management model that will improve the operation efficiency of the HSWH. The main objective is to minimize the water heating energy cost from the grid by taking advantage of the TOU electricity tariff, meanwhile maximizing the thermal comfort level of hot water users. Simulations are performed using Matlab software, and the results demonstrate that operating the proposed hybrid system under the developed optimal energy management model reduced the operation cost when compared to a traditional ESTWH. In addition, the comparisons made in lifecycle costs of these systems shows that in the long run, the hybrid system will be the less costly option with a 49 % saving over a project lifetime of 20 years

Resolutions of cohomology algebras and other struggles with integer coefficients

There is a well known homotopy Π-algebra resolution of a space by wedges of spheres. An attempt to construct the Eckmann-Hilton dual gives a nice resolution for Fp coefficients which can then be used in a spectral sequence. For ℤ coefficients the dual construction has several compounding problems illustrating that integral cohomology becomes relatively problematic when we try to include primary operations.peerReviewe

Evidence for the reliability and validity, and some support for the practical utility of the two-factor Consideration of Future Consequences Scale-14

Researchers have proposed 1-factor, 2-factor, and bifactor solutions to the 12-item Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFCS-12). In order to overcome some measurement problems and to create a robust and conceptually useful two-factor scale the CFCS-12 was recently modified to include two new items and to become the CFCS-14. Using a University sample, we tested four competing models for the CFCS-14: (a) a 12-item unidimensional model, (b) a model fitted for two uncorrelated factors (CFC-Immediate and CFC-Future), (c) a model fitted for two correlated factors (CFC-I and CFC-F), and (d) a bifactor model. Results suggested that the addition of the two new items has strengthened the viability of a two factor solution of the CFCS-14. Results of linear regression models suggest that the CFC-F factor is redundant. Further studies using alcohol and mental health indicators are required to test this redundancy

Methylated Trivalent Arsenic-Glutathione Complexes are More Stable than their Arsenite Analog

The trivalent arsenic glutathione complexes arsenic triglutathione, methylarsonous diglutathione, and dimethylarsinous glutathione are key intermediates in the mammalian metabolism of arsenite and possibly represent the arsenic species that are transported from the liver to the kidney for urinary excretion. Despite this, the comparative stability of the arsenic-sulfur bonds in these complexes has not been investigated under physiological conditions resembling hepatocyte cytosol. Using size-exclusion chromatography and a glutathione-containing phosphate buffered saline mobile phase (5 or 10 mM glutathione, pH 7.4) in conjunction with an arsenic-specific detector, we chromatographed arsenite, monomethylarsonous acid, and dimethylarsinous acid. The on-column formation of the corresponding arsenic-glutathione complexes between 4 and 37°C revealed that methylated arsenic-glutathione complexes are more stable than arsenic triglutathione. The relevance of these results with regard to the metabolic fate of arsenite in mammals is discussed

Drug use amongst 12- and 13-year-olds attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units in Belfast.

This article reports on the findings from a survey of 12- and 13-year-old young people with statements of special educational needs who are attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units in Belfast. The existing literature in the area of special education suggests that a gap in contemporary empirical evidence for drug use behaviours of adolescents attending EBD units and other special educational facilities exists at present. In attempting to redress this knowledge gap, the findings from the present study support the opinions of commentators in the field that young people attending EBD units are at a high risk of illicit drug use in comparison with their contemporaries in mainstream school

Secular trends in substance use: the conflict and young people in Northern Ireland.

The resolution of political conflict has led some to suggest that Northern Ireland will now face a range of social problems that have been ignored or suppressed by the Troubles. One such area is adolescent drug use. In this article, a review of a range of data sources shows that drug use, with few exceptions, has increased since the emergence of the ongoing peace process. Social and political changes and enhanced paramilitary involvement in the drugs trade appear to have somehow created an environment where drug use has flourished. In reviewing current drug policy and practice, the article highlights the lack of prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services established in Northern Ireland as a cause for concern

Unleashing the power of data to drive shared prosperity: A roadmap to a transformative data society

Data is one of the most powerful tools societies currently have at their disposal. Data is already a core resource in everyday life for individuals, communities, businesses, and governments - through social media, search, smart devices in our homes, data analytics, and the digital services we have come to rely on. In the face of urgent challenges - from tackling Covid, addressing widening inequalities to facing the climate emergency - data has the potential to tackle these most pressing challenges1 and positively improve almost every aspect of social and economic life; driving innovation, creating jobs and economic growth, improving decisionmaking, reducing costs, and changing the way public services are delivered

The Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS): A prospective cohort study of the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use from adolescence to adulthood in Northern Ireland

Background: Substance misuse persists as a major public health issue worldwide with significant costs for society. The development of interventions requires methodologically sound studies to explore substance misuse causes and consequences. This Cohort description paper outlines the design of the Belfast Youth Development (BYDS), one of the largest cohort studies of its kind in the UK. The study was established to address the need for a long-term prospective cohort study to investigate the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use, alongside life course processes in adolescence and adulthood. The paper provides an overview of BYDS as a longitudinal data source for investigating substance misuse and outlines the study measures, sample retention and characteristics. We also outline how the BYDS data have been used to date and highlight areas ripe for future work by interested researchers. Methods: The study began in 2000/1 when participants (n = 3,834) were pupils in their first year of post-primary education (age 10/11 years, school year 8) from over 40 schools in Northern Ireland. Children were followed during the school years: Year 9 (in 2002; aged 12; n = 4,343), Year 10 (in 2003; aged 13; n = 4,522), Year 11 (in 2004; aged 14; n = 3,965) and Year 12 (in 2005; aged 15; n = 3,830) and on two more occasions: 2006/07 (aged 16/17; n = 2,335) and 2010/11 (aged 20/21; n = 2,087). Data were collected on substance use, family, schools, neighbourhoods, offending behaviour and mental health. The most novel aspect of the study was the collection of detailed social network data via friendship nominations allowing the investigation of the spread of substance use via friendship networks. In 2004 (school year 11; respondents aged 14), a sub-sample of participants’ parents (n = 1,097) and siblings (n = 211) also completed measures on substance use and family dynamics. Results: The most recent wave (in 2010/2011; respondents aged 20/21 years) indicated lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis among the cohort was 94, 70 and 45 per cent, respectively. The paper charts the development of drug use behaviour and some of the key results to date are presented. We have also identified a number of key areas ripe for analysis by interested researchers including sexual health and education. Conclusions: We have established a cohort with detailed data from adolescence to young adulthood, supplemented with parent and sibling reports and peer network data. The dataset, allowing for investigation of trajectories of adolescent substance use, associated factors and subsequent long-term outcomes, constitutes an important resource for longitudinal substance misuse research. A planned further wave as the cohort enter their late twenties and potential to link to administrative data sources, will further enrich the datasets