Flow-based nodal cost allocation in a heterogeneous highly renewable European electricity network

For a cost efficient design of a future renewable European electricity system, the placement of renewable generation capacity will seek to exploit locations with good resource quality, that is for instance onshore wind in countries bordering the North Sea and solar PV in South European countries. Regions with less favorable renewable generation conditions benefit from this remote capacity by importing the respective electricity as power flows through the transmission grid. The resulting intricate pattern of imports and exports represents a challenge for the analysis of system costs on the level of individual countries. Using a tracing technique, we introduce flow-based nodal levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) which allow to incorporate capital and operational costs associated with the usage of generation capacity located outside the respective country under consideration. This concept and a complementary allocation of transmission infrastructure costs is applied to a simplified model of an interconnected highly renewable European electricity system. We observe that cooperation between the European countries in a heterogeneous system layout does not only reduce the system-wide LCOE, but also the flow-based nodal LCOEs for every country individually.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Vocabulary size and GPA for non-native speakers of English

This study examines the relationship between knowledge of academic vocabulary relevant to an American university setting and academic success as measured by grade point average (GPA) of undergraduates who were non-native speakers of English at an university in the United States. To study this relationship, this study addresses issues in developing a list of vocabulary items relevant to undergraduate study in the United States; developing, administering and scoring an appropriate test of vocabulary size; and interpreting the results of the test. The study also addresses the reliability of a checkbox test, the usefulness of common word families is estimating vocabulary size, the usefulness of nonwords as indicators of overestimation of knowledge by test takers, and the rate at which nonwords may be included in a checkbox test of vocabulary.;The results do not show a clear relationship between knowledge of academic vocabulary and academic success as measured by GPA; however, the results do tend to indicate that the lower limit of a successful student\u27s vocabulary size may be as low or even lower than 2700 word families. The results also indicate that the checkbox test can be reliable, that common word families are not very useful in estimating vocabulary size for non-native speakers of English enrolled as undergraduates, that nonwords are significant indicators of overestimation of knowledge, and that nonwords may be included at a low rate (e.g.10%) on a checkbox test of vocabulary provided there are a sufficient number of nonwords

The human-animal bond\u27s role with the abused child

The purpose of this study was to investigate adults who were abused as children and the mediative impact of human and animal supportive relationships on the self-esteem, nurturant behavior, and anger/aggression of the abused child as both a child and an adult;One hundred and one adult subjects completed the inventory. The inventory was a compilation of specifically designed questions by the researcher including continuum rating scales of the subject\u27s perception of his/her childhood levels of self-esteem, nurturant behavior, and anger; and assessment instruments for self-esteem, nurturant behavior, and anger as an adult. In addition, questions concerning demographic data and an optional, qualitative question were asked;The t-test or the Mann-Whitney-U test was used to analyze the 108 incidents involving the two assessments of the animal-bond (The Human-Animal Bond Scale1 and the Family Life Space Diagram2) and the assessments of self-esteem, nurturant behavior, and anger level as a child and an adult. There were 12 significant incidents found in the areas of self-esteem (non-abused subjects as adults who had a strong human-human bond had higher self-esteem); and nurturant behavior (non-abused subjects who had a strong human-animal and both a human-human and a human-animal bond and all subjects, subjects not abused as children, and subjects abused as children who had a strong human-animal bond reported more nurturant behaviors). The childhood anger level for children who were abused was significant, lower anger levels were reported for children with a strong human-animal bond. Chi square analysis supported existing research showing that abused children have a continued history of abusing or being abused throughout their lives. The exception occurs with adults abused as children with a strong human-animal bond did not report abusing animals or children as an adult. The qualitative information supported the premise that relationships with animals were very important to some of the abused subjects when they were children. The animals were viewed as supportive, as a tool used by the abuser, as a threat to the abused child, and as part of the healing process. Sometimes these views overlapped;ftn1Poresky, R. H., Hendrix, C., Mosier, J. E., & Samuelson, M. L. (1987) Companion Animal Bonding Scale: Internal reliability and construct validity. Psychological Reports, 60, 743-746. 2Barker, S. B., & Barker, R. T. (1990). Investigation of the construct validity of the Family Life Space Diagram. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 12, 506-514

Introduction to Animal- and Nature-Assisted Therapies: A Service-Learning Model for Rural Social Work

This teaching note details the teaching philosophy and practices of an innovative university service-learning course in nature- and animal-assisted therapies. The course took place at a wildlife rehabilitation center, and students engaged as counselors, putting academic theories into action by facilitating an “animal camp” for 25 at-risk children. The course represented a “best practice” in rural social work given its intensive focus upon social work’s ecological and person-in-environment perspectives; multidisciplinary, collaborative community-based partnerships; and evocation of a rural schoolhouse model

Exploring the reasons white middle-class women remain childfree in the South African context : a feminist social constructionist study

In this study I qualitatively explore how women who choose not to have children account for this choice in the South African context. I consider the reasons for women to remain childfree and the changing discourses of femininity that enable women to make the choice not to have children. I am also concerned with the possible implications of this choice for women’s interpersonal relationships. This study is conducted from a feminist social constructionist framework. Dominant discourses of femininity revolve around motherhood, which is considered to be the most important role. Motherhood is believed to be a “natural” identity. Mothers are highly regarded in most societies; they are perceived to be devoted to the care of others and to be self-sacrificing. Although most societies consider motherhood to be an essential feature of femininity, it can also cause ambivalent feelings and not all women wish to take on the role of motherhood. The number of women who choose to remain childfree is growing in various societies. Women increasingly have the power to choose whether they want to remain childfree. Through resisting discourses that meld femininity with motherhood, childfree women create alternative discourses that have the potential to change constructions of femininity. I used feminist social constructionism to endeavour to understand the ways in which women’s realities inform their decision not to have children. I also explore how society serves to either problematise or promote this decision. Finally, I attempt to gain a deeper understanding of how being female and childfree impacts on women’s beliefs about themselves. Interview data from semi-structured interviews conducted with women who choose to remain childfree are analysed using thematic analysis. The women interviewed were white and middle class and were found via convenience and snowball sampling. The women participating in the study report various reasons for remaining childfree. Freedom from childcare responsibility and the resulting greater opportunity for self3 fulfilment is shown to be one of the strongest reasons for remaining childfree. Other important reasons include unequal labour division in the family, concerns about the physical aspects of childbirth and recovery, life partners’ acceptance of the choice to remain childfree as well as early socialising experiences. Other reasons cited less frequently include the negative impact of childrearing on women’s emotional well-being, concerns regarding the overpopulation of the planet and a general dislike of children. Two of the themes identified in the text are not evident in the existing literature. The first of these relates to the fact that the women participating in the study do not regard motherhood as the central feature of femininity. Instead, they tend to associate femininity with the act of nurturing, rather than with the act of mothering. These women are able to strongly identify with the female role, as they do not believe that choosing to remain childfree conflicts with their female gender role. The second theme relates to the belief that the world is an evil or unsafe place and that it is therefore better to remain childfree. This belief appears to be context dependent and is based on the women’s perceptions of the crime situation in South Africa. This study contributes to the expansion of the existing literature concerning childfree women, specifically within the South African context. The findings of the research support the findings of previous studies and offer a fresh perspective through the identification of new themes. By exploring reasons women cite for remaining childfree, I argue that some women refute motherhood. The challenging of the dominant discourse that “all women are mothers” is aimed at changing the dialogue about women and thus altering existing dominant discourses. CopyrightDissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Psychologyunrestricte

Becoming a [COVID] student?: assessing the impact of COVID-19 on first-year students’ experiences of higher education in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted South African higher education which forced the shift to emergency distance learning to save the academic years of 2020-2022. The repercussions of this are still emerging, but current literature focuses on understanding the impact of first-year students is focused on the impact of academics caused by the emergency shift to online, the “double transition” as Nyar (2021) termed the adjustment to university and then again to the online emergency academics. There is also a niche for holistic research to be done regarding the student experience - pandemic times and elsewise. My thesis focuses on the journey of studenthood of three cohorts at a residential university in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, through the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022. This research utilises ethnographic iterative mixed methods (questionnaire, interviews, focus groups and participant observation) and the theoretical lens of Rites of Passage to understand my research participant’s experiences. My findings are that due to the circumstances of an incomplete student experience of just online academics provided an continuous liminal period for first-year students of 2020-2021, with little to no opportunity for them to develop a connection to the university community. The opportunity for them to holistically become students arises at the end of the pandemic in 2022, with the restrictions lifting and the return to on-campus and in-person academic activities allowing them to have a first-year experienced that COVID-19 prohibited.Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 202

Globalization, forestry companies, and the Mapuche Indians of Chile

This study looks at how globalization of the Chilean forestry Industry has impacted the Mapuche Indians\u27 ecological niche. The Mapuches\u27 traditional ecological niche was rooted in the biodiversity of the southern beech forest. Their ecological niche - characterized by subsistence wheat farming and hunting and gathering - remained stable from the late 19th century to the 1970s - when the Chilean government launched its highly successful development program to form an internationally competitive forestry industry. Through generous government subsidies (given to large landholders and Chilean companies), forestry plantations popped up on land that was formerly believed, by most Chileans, to be marginal, at best. The subsidies created a profitable industry that quickly became a target for foreign capital. Over 2.5 million hectares of pine and eucalyptus were planted - in only 25 years - in the heart of Mapuche territory. Because of the explosive growth of plantations, the Mapuches\u27 ecological niche was dramatically altered. In this study, 36 Mapuches, living in the eastern foothills of the Araucania\u27s coastal mountains, were interviewed to find out how forestry plantations had impacted their environment and culture. Overall, Mapuches perceived that the forestry plantations had had a very deleterious impact on their livelihoods. They said that the forestry plantations had led to increased environmental degradation. Mapuches reported impacts such as the disappearance of water resources, the intensification of agrochemical use on the plantations, and erosion. The Mapuches, who are very land poor, expressed a concern that the forestry companies were wasting vital agricultural land