VCORE Solutions (United States)

This paper presents the main features and characteristics of the evaluation model of enhanced geothermal system projects based on multi-criteria decision-making. The model is a simulation model and evaluates the enhanced geothermal system projects in a holistic way. Considering geological setting characteristics, technology details, the economics of the project, social impact, and associated environmental impact enables a comprehensive assessment of such projects. The model is capable of calculating main performance metrics such as production quantities, losses, efficiencies, avoided CO2 emissions, and main economic metrics such as levelized cost of energy, the net present value of the project, yearly cash flows etc. Additionally, the model integrates a multi-criteria decision-making sub-module, enabling users to assess and compare different project options and scenarios.

Handwriting is an essential of school activities for the school going children. Good or legible handwriting remained a constant task for the teachers and students during the whole day. The teachers recognize the legible handwriting at a gland due to their routine work in the schools. The teacher’s criterion that lies behind their decision of good handwriting was a question to answer in this study. The purpose of this study was to identify the components of legibility from the teachers’ perspective. Referencing handwriting experts and a literature review, key variables were categorized and organized onto a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire. Teachers’ responses to the various legibility criteria were then tallied with regards to primary school students. Mean, standard deviation, exploratory factor analysis and path diagram statistics were applied to the ordinal data. It was concluded that twelve components were important for the legibility of handwriting of primary school students. These include Readability, Margin, Similarity, Line, Space, Size, Shape, Roundness, Form, Slant, Alignment and Recognition.

Both macro- and micro-level research suggests that immigration is unrelated or negatively associated with crime and violence. However, far less research has examined the indirect effects of immigrant concentration on individual-level criminal behavior, and specifically with respect to persistent offending. Moreover, researchers have only begun to explore the mechanisms that link neighborhood context, such as immigrant concentration, to individual outcomes. Thus, identification of the potential mechanisms that may mediate the effect of immigrant concentration on offending remains little understood. Using a unique sample of more than 26,000 youthful offenders from the state of Florida, multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analyses reveal that family structure, familial incarceration, and social ties partially mediate the effect of immigrant concentration on youth reoffending. Findings and implications from the present study are discussed, along with policy implications and future directions for research in this area.

We have created a large-scale information delivery platform optimized for mobile phones and used it for many months now to run a content delivery service through SMS. We share the key findings from our experience of serving many millions of short messages each month to over 1 million subscribers.

A novel high-speed flywheel-based DC voltage source (FDCS) has recently been developed as a direct and improved energy storage substitute for chemical batteries in uninterruptible power supply (UPS) applications. Like chemical batteries, the FDCS requires only a DC connection to a UPS with no other interconnections; however, the FDCS offers many advantages over chemical batteries, including reduced life cycle costs due to elimination of the periodic replacement of chemical batteries, increased power density, known state of charge, and the absence of environmentally harmful materials. The FDCS also incorporates a novel soft handover feature which was developed to provide a gradual load transfer from the backup energy source of the UPS to a backup engine-generator set (genset). In the absence of the soft handover feature, the genset fails due to its inability to slew its output power in the time required to continue to supply the critical load. This paper details the performance of the FDCS during operational events and shows the benefits of the soft handover feature for a combined genset-UPS ride-thru application