Load profiles and flexibility in operation of washing machines and dishwashers in Europe

While the energy generation system is changing towards the use of more renewable energies, the problem of how to deal with fluctuating energy supply is increasing. Smart appliances in households are often referenced as one possible solution, as their operation may be shifted in time and, thus, used to balance an unstable energy supply. The potential of such appliances has been studied to date mainly in pilot installations with a very limited number of participants or by making assumptions on what might be possible. With this work, a semi‐representative approach for 12 European countries was used to assess actual consumer habits for the use of washing machines and dishwashers which then could be used to calculate average load profiles for those appliances depending on the time of the day. Using these profiles, it is strait forward to calculate how much load may be shifted by those appliances in a demand response application. This allows aggregators or energy utilities to assign clear financial benefits to the shifting potential of those appliances. Consumers use the shifting of appliance operation already today for various reasons. Investigating these reasons allows to learn already a lot about the flexibility of consumers.     

So entstehen Hautprobleme bei Inkontinenz

Inkontinenz schw?cht die fragile Barrierefunktion der Altershaut - Gesunde Haut erfüllt eine Reihe wichtiger Schutzfunktionen. Mit zunehmendem Alter l?sst diese Schutzfunktion der Haut jedoch nach und sie wird besonders anf?llig für Sch?digungen durch Harn- oder Stuhlinkontinenz. Diese Risiken sollten bei der pflegerischen Versorgung beachtet werden, damit die Haut trotz Inkontinenz gesund bleibt.     

DIC in variable selection

Model comparison is discussed from an information theoretic point of view. In particular the posterior predictive entropy is related to the target yielding DIC and modifications thereof. The adequacy of criteria for posterior predictive model comparison is also investigated depending on the comparison to be made. In particular variable selection as a special problem of model choice is formalized in different ways according to whether the comparison is a comparison across models or within an encompassing model and whether a joint or conditional sampling scheme is applied. DIC has been devised for comparisons across models. Its use in variable selection and that of other criteria is illustrated for a simulated data set.     

WHERE'S THE CAT GOING? SOME OBSERVATIONS ON CATASTROPHE BONDS

This article provides an assessment of the current state of the market for catastrophe (or "Cat") bonds. Given the changes in insurance markets since September 11th, the demand for Cat bonds is likely to increase. For issuers, Cat bonds have the effect of transferring risks to the capital markets that would normally be underwritten by insurance or reinsurance companies. And as a substitute for insurance, Cat bonds have the potential to help issuers address problems such as lack of capacity and real risk transfer, cyclicality, and credit risk that are commonly associated with insurance and reinsurance markets. Investors value Cat bonds in part because of their low correlations with stocks and conventional bonds. Notable trends in the structuring of the products involve higher levels of risk transfer, longer-term contracts, and linkage to a portfolio of catastrophic risks.     

Stakeholder views on issues to consider when assessing the sustainability of genetically modified potato

The importance of assessing socio-economic and sustainability aspects of genetically modified (GM) crops is increasingly recognized by policy-makers, both within the EU and internationally. Nevertheless, experience has shown that it is challenging to assess and implement these aspects in actual decision-making processes. This paper argues that stakeholder engagement may provide valuable insights when developing frameworks for sustainability assessment of GM crops. We organized two stakeholder workshops with the aim to gather perspectives on the sustainability of cultivating late blight resistant (LBR) GM potato in Norway. Sixteen Norwegian stakeholders involved in potato production and in agriculture in general took part in the workshops. Here, we present and discuss the outcomes of this participatory approach. The stakeholders identified several conditions that an LBR GM potato ought to satisfy in order to contribute to sustainable development. These conditions concerned environmental and health safety aspects of cultivating LBR GM potato, potential for fungicide reductions, durability of the LBR GM potato plant's resistance, farmers' profitability and consumer acceptance. In addition, the stakeholders considered issues such as maintenance of a diversity of potato cultivars, transparency during product development and risk assessment processes, ownership and control and opportunity for independent risk research as important considerations in a sustainability assessment. While focusing on a specific application of agricultural biotechnology, we believe that these findings are useful contributions to the ongoing efforts to develop frameworks and guidelines for assessing sustainability and socio-economic considerations of GM crops in general.     

About the authors

The article deals with the problem of diagnosing cultural change necessitated by a shift in market strategy and the measurement of adaptability of an existing corporate culture. Starting from the proposition that there has to be a fit between strategic goals, goal‐relevant norms of behaviour followed by the employees, and their attitudes concerning the contents of the norms in order to be able to successfully implement a new market strategy, the authors develop an approach for measuring discrepancies between these variables. Describing an empirical study run in a middle‐sized Austrian company they show how the approach may work in practice. The degree of cultural change required is delected and located. An evaluation of the existing culture's adaptability clearly indicates that necessary changes may encounter higher risks of failure.