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Exergoeconomic evaluation of Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy storage:effects of pressure ratio and configuration
Get PDFAn exergoeconomic analysis of three configurations of Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage systems: 3-stage, 5-stage and 7-stage at a constant pressure ratio of 2.42, and three 5-stage systems at pressure ratios of 2.42, 2.70 and 3.00 was conducted using the Specific Exergy Costing method. The exergetic costs, exergy destruction cost rates, and exergy-based monetary costs were calculated. The results show that due to the inherent exergy destruction in the expanders, the exergetic costs and the exergy-based monetary costs of electricity are the lowest at the first expanders, which operate at the highest pressure. The exergetic costs increase in the subsequent expanders. The study also reveals that the average exergetic cost of electricity is almost constant at 1.461 kWh/kWh for all configurations at a pressure ratio of 2.42. However, these costs increase for the 5-stage systems, operating at higher pressure ratios to 1.507 kWh/kWh at a pressure ratio of 2.70 and 1.552 kWh/kWh at a pressure ratio of 3.00. Similar trends are observed when analysing the exergy-based monetary costs. The average exergy cost for all configurations at a pressure ratio of 2.42 is around 0.43/kWh for the 5-stage system at a pressure ratio of 3.00, assuming a purchase cost of electricity of $0.25/kWh. The study concludes that exergy costs depend more on system design, particularly thermal management, than on the final pressure of the system and that exergoeconomic analysis plays a crucial role in designing efficient energy storage systems.</p
Impact of artificial intelligence on tourism and hospitality
No full textSmart tourism is becoming the most dynamic industry that is evolving through artificial intelligence. This chapter addresses how different AI tools and technologies are revolutionising the tourism and hospitality industry. To develop a comprehensive understanding, dynamic AI tools like big data, machine learning, speech recognition, robotics, and smart travel assistants are critically analysed in the context of the tourism and hospitality sector. Moreover, strategies for demand forecasting through time series modelling, web searching data and econometric modelling are discussed. Four key issues that shape the future of AI’s impact on the tourism and hospitality sector are presented based on the transformation of employment and workforce, data privacy and security concerns, personalisation versus standardisation, and ethical implications of AI in decision-making. Followed by recommendations for policymakers and practitioners and future insight. Finally, a case study on Accor Hotels and Marriott International is discussed to understand the operational efficiencies and practical challenges.<br/
Pathways to nursing:a qualitative exploration of the education and training decision-making of nursing students
Get PDFBACKGROUND: The World Health Organization estimates a shortage of 4.5 million nurses by 2030. In England, traditional nursing degrees cost ∼£9535/year, while apprenticeships are salaried, but take longer and currently have fewer places available. To better inform policy and workforce planning, it is crucial to understand the factors influencing entry into nursing. This study aims to explore factors influencing decision-making processes of prospective nurses, with particular focus on pathway preferences.METHODS: Qualitative semi-structured interviews (N = 40) were conducted online with 10 prospective nursing students, 10 current nursing students, 10 recently graduated nursing students, and 10 training providers. Participants were identified through policy partners, educational institutions, and snowball sampling methods. Thematic analysis was conducted, structured using the Framework approach.FINDINGS: Six themes were generated: 1) The role of professionalisation, identity, and stigma in shaping educational decision-making; 2) Balancing life, learning, and livelihood in the context of consumerist attitudes to higher education; 3) Preference for practical learning and embedded experience; 4) Career aspirations and progression opportunities; 5) Support systems and student experience; 6) Course delivery challenges. Stigmatised perceptions of educational pathways, with apprenticeships typically perceived as less prestigious than traditional degrees, appeared to contribute to a vocational-versus-academic divide, and differential delivery approaches (concurrent-versus-sequential delivery of practical and theoretical learning) also appeared to influence choices. Negative media portrayals of nursing post-COVID reportedly discouraged recruitment. Financial stability and family commitments were considered key factors in educational choices, with the financial structure of apprenticeships perceived as preferable for mature students with children. Apprenticeships were considered to have more robust support systems, facilitating positive educational experiences and mitigating academic confidence issues, with peer support and camaraderie highly valued across both routes. However, some younger students questioned their readiness to enter the workforce and reported their desire for a more traditional university experience. Providers reported apprenticeship delivery as more costly to educational institutions due to additional regulations and administrative load, and many noted a dichotomy in learning types between pathways, meaning integration of teaching across pathways would need careful consideration.CONCLUSIONS: Addressing the shortages in applications to nursing courses in England requires a multifaceted approach. This may include national awareness campaigns to improve perceptions of nursing careers, enhanced financial support for degree students, and regulatory simplification for apprenticeship expansion. A more integrated approach to nursing education, balancing accessibility, workforce needs, and student support, may help to address current shortages in the nursing workforce.</p
Disease burden attributable to intimate partner violence against females and sexual violence against children in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2023:a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Violence against women and against children are human rights violations with lasting harms to survivors and societies at large. Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence against children (SVAC) are two major forms of such abuse. Despite their wide-reaching effects on individual and community health, these risk factors have not been adequately prioritised as key drivers of global health burden. Comprehensive x§and reliable estimates of the comparative health burden of IPV and SVAC are urgently needed to inform investments in prevention and support for survivors at both national and global levels.METHODS: We estimated the prevalence and attributable burden of IPV among females and SVAC among males and females for 204 countries and territories, by age and sex, from 1990 to 2023, as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2023. We searched several global databases for data on self-reported exposure to IPV and SVAC and undertook a systematic review to identify the health outcomes associated with each of these risk factors. We modelled IPV and SVAC prevalence using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, applying data adjustments to account for measurement heterogeneity. We employed burden-of-proof methodology to estimate relative risks for outcomes associated with IPV and SVAC. These estimates informed the calculation of population attributable fractions, which were then used to quantify disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to each risk factor.FINDINGS: Globally, in 2023, we estimated that 608 million (95% uncertainty interval 518-724) females aged 15 years and older had ever been exposed to IPV, and 1·01 billion (0·764-1·48) individuals aged 15 years and older had experienced sexual violence during childhood. 18·5 million (8·74-30·0) DALYs were attributed to IPV among females and 32·2 million (16·4-52·5) DALYs were attributed to SVAC among males and females in 2023. IPV and SVAC were among the top contributors to the global disease burden in 2023, particularly among females aged 15-49 years, ranking as the fourth and fifth leading risk factors, respectively, for DALYs in this group. Among the eight health outcomes found to be associated with IPV, anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder were the leading causes of IPV-attributed DALYs, accounting for 5·43 million (-1·25 to 14·6) and 3·96 million (1·71 to 6·92) DALYs in 2023, respectively. SVAC was associated with 14 health outcomes, including mental health disorder, substance use disorder, and chronic and infectious disease outcomes. Self-harm and schizophrenia were the leading causes of SVAC-attributed burden, with SVAC accounting for 6·71 million (2·00 to 12·7) DALYs due to self-harm and 4·15 million (-1·92 to 13·1) DALYs due to schizophrenia in 2023.INTERPRETATION: IPV and SVAC are substantial contributors to global health burden, and their health consequences span a variety of individual health outcomes. Importantly, mental health disorders account for the greatest share of disease burden among survivors. Investing in prevention of these avoidable risk factors has the potential to avert millions of DALYs and considerable premature mortality each year. Our findings represent strong evidence for global and national leaders to elevate IPV and SVAC among public health priorities. Sustained investments are needed to prevent IPV and SVAC and to implement interventions focused on supporting the complex social and health needs of survivors.FUNDING: Gates Foundation.</p
Empowering P2P energy networks:a blockchain-based multi-parameter reputation management system for grid enhancement
Get PDFA robust and secure reputation management system is required to ensure reliability, trust, and efficiency in energy transactions. This paper proposes a multi-parameter reputation scoring system, which enables combining factors that reflect direct individual performance, and the contribution towards maintaining a stable grid and delivering a high-quality power supply. Further, this study proposes integrating blockchain for the realization of the reputation management of Smart Grid 2.0. This ensures a secure and transparent mechanism, eliminating data poisoning and repudiation of transactions. Smart contracts facilitate the automatic execution of data aggregation, reputation calculation, and selective decision-making processes. The performance of a multi-factor reputation management scheme on Peer-to-Peer energy trading is evaluated through the conducted tests. The superiority has been showcased through benefits to the consumer and the prosumer. Moreover, a comparison against the state-of-the-art reputation scheme is included to further highlight the significance of this study.</p
Leading a personal development review? think about GenAI for scholarship
No full textWith personal development reviews taking place over the summer, perhaps this is the moment to focus on how teaching and learning practitioners are using GenAI for efficiency in terms of scholarship.<br/
Should conditional deceased organ donation be permitted? Identifying legal and ethical considerations
Get PDFIncreasing the availability of suitable organs is essential for life-saving transplant surgery. We highlight the importance of consent to deceased organ donation and discuss whether a ‘blanket ban’ on attaching conditions to a donation is appropriate by analysing relevant legal, ethical, and clinical considerations. The introduction highlights key issues in this area and defines the different kinds of conditional donations. We focus on conditions that seek to limit ‘who’ might receive an organ. The article outlines the current approach to conditions attached to the donation of organs. We identify key models of conditional organ donation: (a) no conditions allowed; (b) permit all conditions; and (c) permit some conditions. The third model of permitting some conditions includes permitting conditions except those contrary to equality and non-discrimination law, or permitting conditions as exceptions, or permitting conditions, but only as advisory. We demonstrate that there is room for disagreement about the permissibility of each model and argue that there is potential for reforming the law in this area to achieve the appropriate balance between protecting the personal autonomy of donors with the wider interests of protecting the organ allocation system.</p
Jinty Nelson in thirteen articles
Get PDFThis collection gathers thirteen contributions by a number of historians, friends, colleagues and/or students of Jinty’s, who were asked to pick their favourite article by her and say a few words about it for an event held in her memory on 15 January 2025 at King’s College London. We offer this collection in print now for a wider audience not so much because it has any claim to be exhaustive or authoritative, but because taken all together these pieces seemed to add up to a useful retrospective on Jinty’s work, its wider context, and its impact on the field over the decades. We hope that, for those who know her work well already, this may be an opportunity to remember some of her classic (and a few less classic) articles, while at the same time serving as an accessible introduction to her research for anyone who knew her without necessarily knowing about her field, as well as for a new and younger generation of readers.</p
Bedfordshire’s first Black male police officer:memoir and collaboration as education
No full textWhat follows is a reflective account of a collaborative writing project, which, at the time of writing (November 2024 through January 2025), has yet to be completed. This chapter, therefore, has a rather different pur chase on both education and the educator than the other pieces in this collection. The project is the memoir of Eric Edwin, Bedfordshire’s first Black male police officer, who, after 30-plus years with the force, was diag nosed in late 2016 with multiple myeloma. The chapter is divided into two main sections, which deal first with the nuts-and-bolts business of writ ing the memoir – an education in itself, as the project as a whole and our individual roles in it were new to each of us – and second with the project’s ethical implications. In what follows, we reflect not only on the writing team in the role of educator but on the project as an educational process in which the politics of race and racialized experience are interlaced.</p
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