SIB Fixed Cost Reduction is a privately owned business consulting firm specializing in expense auditing and fixed cost reduction for public and private enterprises in a variety of industries. SIB was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. SIB stands for "Solutions Integrated Business.
The perception still exists amongst decision makers that paraffin consumption will decrease with increased rates of electrification. Electricity is only added to the fuel mix used by households. Although paraffin is often perceived to be a more affordable fuel than electricity, households spend more of their monthly income on buying paraffin than any other fuel. Although the baseline survey from which the data was derived was not conducted primarily to confirm paraffin consumption patterns of households, it still illustrates the prevailing use and high expenditure on the fuel.
The current limitations of commercially available thermoelectric (TE) generators include their incompatibility with human body applications due to the toxicity of commonly used alloys and possible future shortage of raw materials (Bi-Sb-Te and Se). In this respect, exploiting silicon as an environmentally friendly candidate for thermoelectric applications is a promising alternative since it is an abundant, ecofriendly semiconductor for which there already exists an infrastructure for low-cost and high-yield processing. Contrary to the existing approaches, where n/p-legs were either heavily doped to an optimal carrier concentration of 1019 cm−3 or morphologically modified by increasing their roughness, in this work improved thermoelectric performance was achieved in smooth silicon nanostructures with low doping concentration (1.5 × 1015 cm−3). Scalable, highly reproducible e-beam lithographies, which are compatible with nanoimprint and followed by deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE), were employed to produce arrays of regularly spaced nanopillars of 400 nm height with diameters varying from 140 nm to 300 nm. A potential Seebeck microprobe (PSM) was used to measure the Seebeck coefficients of such nanostructures. This resulted in values ranging from −75 μV/K to −120 μV/K for n-type and 100 μV/K to 140 μV/K for p-type, which are significant improvements over previously reported data.
Conflict prevention and peacebuilding relies on information. If accessed on time, well verified, analysed and shared with the right actors, it has the potential to stop violence before it escalates. Traditionally, the processes of information generation and flow have relied on conflict analysis experts, which is not only costly but also time-consuming when it comes to transmission and dissemination for action. Technology is therefore changing the way information is shared and processed; tools, such as mobile devices and social media, allows for information to rapidly be disseminated, analysed and made actionable. As the world continues to move forward at new speeds of information sharing with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, such tools increasingly affect the field of peacebuilding and conflict prevention. This article seeks to initiate policy and practice related discussions on the role that such technologies can play in complimenting traditional peacebuilding and conflict prevention efforts. More specifically, the article explores the role of crowdsourcing as a method for gathering and sharing conflict information for timely and coordinated response. Crowdsourcing uses technology to receive specific information from a crowd of people related to targeted topics or issues, and then allows for this information to be geographically mapped. Crowdsourcing has had considerable success in the field of humanitarian action and crisis management. It was used for the first time during the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya to alert authorities of outbreaks of violence, and again in the 2010 Haiti earthquake used to alert rescuers and relief workers of survivors and needs on the ground. With the success of crowdsourcing in crisis management, there is now a need to further explore the ability to add value to conflict prevention by engaging people locally in collaborative efforts for early warning and timely response using crowdsourcing to not just respond to the crises but to prevent violence.
Differing methods of course development can lead to widely varying results. The University of Phoenix develops courses for both on-campus and on-line (e-learning) delivery, using electronic collaboration as well as in-person teamings. Course developers at the University rigorously measure feedback about course materials, and revise courses based on learners’ input. This paper describes a model for developing and delivering e-learning doctoral-level curricula based on current research and a learner needs analyses. Suggestions for further improvements and surprising results about the most effective method for deriving E-learning materials are explored.
Établi pour le Conseil intérimaire du Cadre intégré renforcé, le Secrétariat exécutif, le gestionnaire du Fonds d'affectation spéciale et les partenaires du CIR
