Application of a Bayesian Network complex system model to a successful community electricity demand reduction program

Utilities worldwide are focused on supplying peak electricity demand reliably and cost effectively, requiring a thorough understanding of all the factors influencing residential electricity use at peak times. An electricity demand reduction project based on comprehensive residential consumer engagement was established within an Australian community in 2008, and by 2011, peak demand had decreased to below pre-intervention levels. This paper applied field data discovered through qualitative in-depth interviews of 22 residential households at the community to a Bayesian Network complex system model to examine whether the system model could explain successful peak demand reduction in the case study location. The knowledge and understanding acquired through insights into the major influential factors and the potential impact of changes to these factors on peak demand would underpin demand reduction intervention strategies for a wider target group.

Performance evaluation of non-thermal plasma on particulate matter, ozone and CO2 correlation for diesel exhaust emission reduction

This study is seeking to investigate the effect of non-thermal plasma technology in the abatement of particulate matter (PM) from the actual diesel exhaust. Ozone (O3) strongly promotes PM oxidation, the main product of which is carbon dioxide (CO2). PM oxidation into the less harmful product (CO2) is the main objective whiles the correlation between PM, O3 and CO2 is considered. A dielectric barrier discharge reactor has been designed with pulsed power technology to produce plasma inside the diesel exhaust. To characterise the system under varied conditions, a range of applied voltages from 11 kVPP to 21kVPP at repetition rates of 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 kHz, have been experimentally investigated. The results show that by increasing the applied voltage and repetition rate, higher discharge power and CO2 dissociation can be achieved. The PM removal efficiency of more than 50% has been achieved during the experiments and high concentrations of ozone on the order of a few hundreds of ppm have been observed at high discharge powers. Furthermore, O3, CO2 and PM concentrations at different plasma states have been analysed for time dependence. Based on this analysis, an inverse relationship between ozone concentration and PM removal has been found and the role of ozone in PM removal in plasma treatment of diesel exhaust has been highlighted.

Destabilising Privilege: Disrupting Deficit Thinking in White Pre-service Teachers on Field Experience in Culturally Diverse, High Poverty Schools

This chapter examines the personal reflections and experiences of several pre-service and newly graduated teachers, including Kristie, who were involved in the NETDS program. Their documented professional journeys, which include descriptions of struggling when their privileged, taken-for-granted ways of being were destabilized, and grappling with tensions related to their own predispositions and values, are investigated in the context of Whiteness and privilege theory.

Why does child labor persist with declining poverty?

We develop a dynamic overlapping generations model to highlight the role of income inequality in explaining the persistence of child labor under declining poverty. Differential investment in two forms of human capital—schooling and health—in the presence of inequality gives rise to a nonconvergent income distribution in the steady state characterized by multiple steady states of relative income with varying levels of education, health, and child labor. The child labor trap thus generated is shown to preserve itself despite rising per capita income. Policy recommendations include public provision of education targeted toward reducing schooling costs for the poor or raising the efficacy of public health infrastructure.

Electrochemical restructuring of copper surfaces using organic additives and its effect on the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions

This work describes the fabrication of nanostructured copper electrodes using a simple potential cycling protocol that involves oxidation and reduction of the surface in an alkaline solution. It was found that the inclusion of additives, such as benzyl alcohol and phenylacetic acid, has a profound effect on the surface oxidation process and the subsequent reduction of these oxides. This results in not only a morphology change, but also affects the electrocatalytic performance of the electrode for the reduction of nitrate ions. In all cases, the electrocatalytic performance of the restructured electrodes was significantly enhanced compared with the unmodified electrode. The most promising material was formed when phenylacetic acid was used as the additive. In addition, the reduction of residual oxides on the surface after the modification procedure to expose freshly active reaction sites on the surface before nitrate reduction was found to be a significant factor in dictating the overall electrocatalytic activity. It is envisaged that this approach offers an interesting way to fabricate other nanostructured electrode surfaces.

Is there a link between poverty and food security?

This paper addresses the gap in economic theory underlying the multidimensional concept of food security and observed data by deriving a composite food security index using the latent class model. The link between poverty and food security is then examined using the new food security index and the robustness of the link is compared with two unidimensional measures often used in the literature. Using Vietnam as a case study, it was found that a weak link exists for the rural but not for the urban composite food security index. The unidimensional measures on the other hand show a strong link in both the rural and urban regions. The results on the link are also different and mixed when two poverty types given by persistent and transient poverty are considered. These findings have important policy implications for a targeted approach to addressing food security.

Towards sustainable poverty alleviation: Building NGO accountability to beneficiaries in microenterprise development programs

This thesis investigates the operations of non-government organisations (NGOs) engaging in microenterprise development programs in Bangladesh and Indonesia, to understand the nature and mechanisms of NGO accountability to the poor. Findings reveal both barriers and mechanisms contributing to success within these programs. A range of mechanisms enhance both accountability of NGOs and the poor, facilitating more effective programs and sustainable poverty alleviation.

Development of a method to assess the quality of ankle joint reduction in 3D

This project developed a quantitative method for determining the quality of the surgical alignment of the bone fragments after an ankle fracture. The research examined the feasibility of utilising MRI-based bone models versus the gold standard CT-based bone models in order to reduce the amount of ionising radiation the patient is exposed to. In doing so, the thesis reports that there is potential for MRI to be used instead of CT depending on the scanning parameters used to obtain the medical images, the distance of the implant relative to the joint surface, and the implant material.

Nanosheets Co3O4 interleaved with graphene for highly efficient oxygen reduction

Efficient yet inexpensive electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are an essential component of renewable energy devices, such as fuel cells and metal-air batteries. We herein interleaved novel Co3O4 nanosheets with graphene to develop a first ever sheet-on-sheet heterostructured electrocatalyst for ORR, whose electrocatalytic activity outperformed the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C with exceptional durability in alkaline solution. The composite demonstrates the highest activity of all the nonprecious metal electrocatalysts, such as those derived from Co3O4 nanoparticle/nitrogen-doped graphene hybrids and carbon nanotube/nanoparticle composites. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicated that the outstanding performance originated from the significant charge transfer from graphene to Co3O4 nanosheets promoting the electron transport through the whole structure. Theoretical calculations revealed that the enhanced stability can be ascribed to the strong interaction generated between both types of sheets.

The exhaustive reduction of formylporphyrins to methylporphyrins using dimethylformamide/water as reductant under microwave irradiation

The reduction of meso-formyl derivatives of 5,15-diaryl- and 5,10,15-triphenylporphyrin (and their nickel(II) complexes) to the corresponding meso-methyl porphyrins is achieved in high yield by microwave heating of the substrate in dimethylformamide (DMF) in the presence of acids such as trifluoroacetic acid, or even just with added water. The reactions are complete in less than 30 min at 250 °C. The reaction is strongly suppressed in very dry DMF in the absence of added acid. The meso-hydroxymethyl porphyrins are also reduced to the methyl derivatives, suggesting the primary alcohols may be intermediates in the exhaustive reduction. UV-visible spectra taken at intervals during reaction at 240 °C indicated that at least one other intermediate is present, but it was not identified. In d7-DMF, the methylporphyrin isolated was mainly Por-CD2H, showing that both of the added hydrogens arise from the solvent, and not from the added water or acid.

Mortality reduction following the air pollution control measures during the 2010 Asian Games

Though increased particulate air pollution has been consistently associated with elevated mortality, evidence regarding whether diminished particulate air pollution would lead to mortality reduction is limited. Citywide air pollution mitigation program during the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, provided such an opportunity. Daily mortality from non-accidental, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases was compared for 51 intervention days (November 1–December 21) in 2010 with the same calendar date of baseline years (2006–2009 and 2011). Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were estimated using a time series Poisson model, adjusting for day of week, public holidays, daily mean temperature and relative humidity. Daily PM10 (particle with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm) decreased from 88.64 μg/m3 during the baseline period to 80.61 μg/m3 during the Asian Games period. Other measured air pollutants and weather variables did not differ substantially. Daily mortality from non-accidental, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases decreased from 32, 11 and 6 during the baseline period to 25, 8 and 5 during the Games period, the corresponding RR for the Games period compared with the baseline period was 0.79 (95% CI: 0.73–0.86), 0.77 (95% CI: 0.66–0.89) and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.57–0.80), respectively. No significant decreases were observed in other months of 2010 in Guangzhou and intervention period in two control cities. This finding supports the efforts to reduce air pollution and improve public health through transportation restriction and industrial emission control.

Predicting tours and probabilistic simulation for BKZ lattice reduction algorithm

We investigate the terminating concept of BKZ reduction first introduced by Hanrot et al. [Crypto'11] and make extensive experiments to predict the number of tours necessary to obtain the best possible trade off between reduction time and quality. Then, we improve Buchmann and Lindner's result [Indocrypt'09] to find sub-lattice collision in SWIFFT. We illustrate that further improvement in time is possible through special setting of SWIFFT parameters and also through the combination of different reduction parameters adaptively. Our contribution also include a probabilistic simulation approach top-up deterministic simulation described by Chen and Nguyen [Asiacrypt'11] that can able to predict the Gram-Schmidt norms more accurately for large block sizes.

Dioxin risk reduction programme at the most severe dioxin hot spot in Vietnam: Residual knowledge, attitude and practices five years post intervention

Bien Hoa Airbase was one of the bulk storage and supply facilities for defoliants during the Vietnam War. Environmental and biological samples taken around the airbase have elevated levels of dioxin. In 2007, a pre-intervention knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey of local residents living in Trung Dung and Tan Phong wards was undertaken regarding appropriate strategies to reduce dioxin exposure. A risk reduction programme was implemented in 2008 and post-intervention KAP surveys were undertaken in 2009 and 2013 to evaluate the longer term impacts. Quantitative assessment was undertaken via a KAP survey in 2013 among 600 local residents randomly selected from the two intervention wards and one control ward (Buu Long). Eight in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions were also undertaken for qualitative assessment. Most programme activities had ceased and dioxin risk communication activities had not been integrated into local routine health education programmes; however, main results generally remained and were better than that in Buu Long. In total, 48.2% of households undertook measures to prevent exposure, higher than those in pre- and post-intervention surveys (25.8% and 39.7%) and the control ward (7.7%). Migration and the sensitive nature of dioxin issues were the main challenges for the programme's sustainability

Teacher Education for High Poverty Schools

This volume captures the innovative, theory-based, and grounded work being done by established scholars who are interrogating how teacher education can prepare teachers to work in challenging and diverse high-poverty settings. It offers articles from the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Chile by some of the most significant scholars in the field. Internationally, research suggests that effective teachers for high poverty schools require deep theoretical understanding as well as the capacity to function across three well-substantiated areas: deep content knowledge, well-tuned pedagogical skills, and demonstrated attributes that prove their understanding and commitment to social justice. Schools in low socioeconomic communities need quality teachers most, however, they are often staffed by the least experienced and least prepared teachers. The chapters in this volume examine how pre-service teachers are taught to understand the social contexts of education. Drawing on the individual expertise of the authors, the topics covered include unpacking poverty for pre-service teachers, issues related to urban schooling as well as remote and regional area schooling.