Access to early childhood education in Australia

This report presents AIFS research undertaken to identify gaps in access to and participation in preschool programs by Australian children in the year before full-time school review how "access" to preschool services is conceptualised and defined; identify the issues and factors that affect access to preschool services; and document and provide recommendations on how access to preschool services can be measured beyond broad performance indicators. To meet these objectives, the publication includes a review of Australian and international literature; results of consultations across Australia; and analyses of participation of children in early childhood education using a number of Australian datasets. The key messages identified by the study included: "Access" to Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Australia is considered to be more than just "participation" in ECE. It should, for example, also cover elements of quality, relevance to children. However, data are not available that would allow measurement against such a broadly defined concept of "access". There are difficulties and limitations in using existing survey and administrative data to measure "access" by "participation" in ECE. Nevertheless these data provide broad indications of ECE participation. Participation rates have the advantage of being easily understood and easily compared over jurisdictions and time. The complexity and variation in how ECE is delivered in Australia has implications for the measurement of access. This is related to different nomenclature used, and varied ages at which children are eligible to attend ECE. The different models of delivery of ECE also complicate the measurement issues, with long day care a widespread provider of ECE in some states/territories, but not others. Given there are difficulties in measuring access, this research used a number of datasets, to provide a fuller understanding of access across Australia. The analyses showed that children missing out on ECE were more often represented among disadvantaged families, and whose children are perhaps in greatest need of ECE to achieve school-readiness. The groups of children who stood out in these analyses as being less likely to be participating in ECE were Indigenous children and children from NESB backgrounds

Access to early childhood education in Australia: insights from a qualitative study

Based on interviews with 94 parents in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia, this report investigates parents\u27 knowledge of and attitudes towards early childhood education. Executive summary This report documents the background, methodology and findings from the Access to Early Childhood Education (AECE): Qualitative Study, undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and commissioned by the then Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR; now the Department of Education) on behalf of the Early Childhood Data Subgroup (ECDSG). This research was commissioned within the context of the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE), which jointly committed the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments to achieving universal access to preschool by 2013. The AECE Qualitative Study was undertaken in order to develop a qualitative evidence base about how the concept of “access” to early childhood education (ECE) is defined and understood, and to explore what reasons and barriers exist in relation to access to ECE. A qualitative framework was chosen for this study to enable more in-depth study of any barriers to ECE, and/or factors that lead to parents making particular decisions about their children’s use of ECE. &nbsp

Simulation-assisted control in building energy management systems

Technological advances in real-time data collection, data transfer and ever-increasing computational power are bringing simulation-assisted control and on-line fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) closer to reality than was imagined when building energy management systems (BEMSs) were introduced in the 1970s. This paper describes the development and testing of a prototype simulation-assisted controller, in which a detailed simulation program is embedded in real-time control decision making. Results from an experiment in a full-scale environmental test facility demonstrate the feasibility of predictive control using a physically-based thermal simulation program

Simulation and implementation of heat load shifting in a low carbon building

A predictive load shifting control system for a heat pump has been developed and installed in a low carbon test house located at the BRE Innovation Park, Motherwell, near Glasgow. The house features an exhaust-air source heat pump supplying an under floor heating system. The controller predicted the day-ahead space heating requirements for the house, based on forecast air temperatures and solar radiation levels and then automatically set the heat pump’s start and stop times for the following day. The heat pump’s operation was restricted where possible to off-peak electricity tariff periods (00:00-07:00). The controller’s operating parameters were pre-set using a calibrated building simulation model. After installation, the controller’s performance was monitored during September 2015 and analysis of test data showed that the predictive control maintained indoor air temperatures between 18-23oC for around 87% of notional occupied hours between 07:00-22:00; this was better than predicted by simulation. However, the energy performance of the heat pump was extremely poor as it did not function well under intermittent load-shifting operation, with the majority of the heat was delivered primarily by an auxiliary immersion coil rather than the heat pump itself. The paper concludes with suggestions for refinements to the controller and further work

Simulation, implementation and monitoring of heat pump load shifting using a predictive controller

A predictive load shifting controller has been developed and deployed in a low-carbon house near Glasgow, UK. The house features an under floor heating system, fed by an air-source heat pump. Based on forecast air temperatures and solar radiation levels, the controller 1) predicts the following day’s heating requirements to achieve thermal comfort 2) runs heat pump during off peak periods to deliver the required heat by pre-charging the under floor heating. Prior to its installation in the building, the controller’s operating characteristics were identified using a calibrated building simulation model. The performance of the controller in the house was monitored over four weeks in 2015. The monitored data indicated that the actual thermal performance of the predictive controller was better than that projected using simulation, with better levels of thermal comfort achieved. Indoor air temperatures were between 18°C to 23°C for around 87% of the time between 07:00-22:00. However, the performance of the heat pump under load shift control was extremely poor, with the heat being delivered primarily by the unit’s auxiliary immersion coil. The paper concludes with a refined version of the controller that should improve the day-ahead energy predictions and offer greater flexibility in heat pump operation for future field trials

Unitary Isobar Model - MAID2007

The unitary isobar model MAID2007 has been developed to analyze the world data of pion photo- and electroproduction. The model contains both a common background and several resonance terms. The background is unitarized according to the K-matrix prescription, and the 13 four-star resonances with masses below 2 GeV are described by appropriately unitarized Breit-Wigner forms. The data have been analyzed by both single-energy and global fits, and the transverse and longitudinal helicity amplitudes have been extracted for the four-star resonances below 2 GeV. Because of its inherent simplicity, MAID2007 is well adopted for predictions and analysis of the observables in pion photo- and electroproduction.Comment: 32 pages including 13 tables and 24 figure