A Conceptual Framework to improve the design of sustainable off-grid microgrid systems for remote communities in developing countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Abhi Chatterjee

<p>From job creation to economic development, from security concerns to the full empowerment of women, energy lies at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - agreed to by the world’s leaders in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda. In the words of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity, and an environment that allows the world to thrive." Approximately 1 billion people in the world today have no access to electricity, and the issues are dominating in the remote communities of the developing countries.  Decentralized systems have existed over a couple of decades to provide electricity provisions in the off-grid communities devoid of the necessary energy services. The literature, however, suggests that off-grid systems have failed in delivering the tasks set forth to curb the electricity crisis. The crisis has resulted in communities primarily residing in the remote/islanded areas having lower social and economic status compared to the urban areas with centralized grid connectivity. A further review of the literature points to a lack of a detailed standard framework for cross-sectional evaluation of sustainability and reliability of the off-grid systems, which results in non-uniformity of the universal electricity access.   Given this, the main objective of the thesis is to establish a conceptual framework to improve the design of remote off-grid microgrid systems through a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) approach, by implementing a mixed-research approach. The research strategy adopted to advance knowledge and for achieving the objective of the research follows the Technology and Policy Assessment (TPA) approach, developed by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKREC). The research evaluation design involves formative evaluations where questionnaires designed for investigating failure cases of remote microgrids are introduced, and a conceptual framework is developed, based on the lessons learned.   The conceptual framework comprising of modules incorporates essential features of improving the TEA of the remote microgrids and emphasizes on features like stakeholder assessments, sustainability aspects, energy management, and improving energy efficiency as well as overall system autonomy of the rural off-grid systems. Furthermore, following the TPA approach, the conceptual framework has been verified by involving a focus group. IEEE-Sustainable Energy Systems for Developing Communities (SESDC) was involved in the research verification process. The proposed conceptual framework was validated by incorporating a quantitative analysis to situate the research findings.  The research findings in the thesis contribute extensively to the body of knowledge by establishing a standard framework indicating the importance of energy-efficient approaches towards scaling up sustainable remote microgrids for solving energy crisis issues. As it were, the practical contribution of the thesis is critical in identifying and characterizing the dimensions of the Sustainable Developing Goal 7 for “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and its impact on the other SDGs, thereby enabling progress towards the target 2030 of the United Nations.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Abhi Chatterjee

<p>From job creation to economic development, from security concerns to the full empowerment of women, energy lies at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - agreed to by the world’s leaders in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda. In the words of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity, and an environment that allows the world to thrive." Approximately 1 billion people in the world today have no access to electricity, and the issues are dominating in the remote communities of the developing countries.  Decentralized systems have existed over a couple of decades to provide electricity provisions in the off-grid communities devoid of the necessary energy services. The literature, however, suggests that off-grid systems have failed in delivering the tasks set forth to curb the electricity crisis. The crisis has resulted in communities primarily residing in the remote/islanded areas having lower social and economic status compared to the urban areas with centralized grid connectivity. A further review of the literature points to a lack of a detailed standard framework for cross-sectional evaluation of sustainability and reliability of the off-grid systems, which results in non-uniformity of the universal electricity access.   Given this, the main objective of the thesis is to establish a conceptual framework to improve the design of remote off-grid microgrid systems through a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) approach, by implementing a mixed-research approach. The research strategy adopted to advance knowledge and for achieving the objective of the research follows the Technology and Policy Assessment (TPA) approach, developed by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKREC). The research evaluation design involves formative evaluations where questionnaires designed for investigating failure cases of remote microgrids are introduced, and a conceptual framework is developed, based on the lessons learned.   The conceptual framework comprising of modules incorporates essential features of improving the TEA of the remote microgrids and emphasizes on features like stakeholder assessments, sustainability aspects, energy management, and improving energy efficiency as well as overall system autonomy of the rural off-grid systems. Furthermore, following the TPA approach, the conceptual framework has been verified by involving a focus group. IEEE-Sustainable Energy Systems for Developing Communities (SESDC) was involved in the research verification process. The proposed conceptual framework was validated by incorporating a quantitative analysis to situate the research findings.  The research findings in the thesis contribute extensively to the body of knowledge by establishing a standard framework indicating the importance of energy-efficient approaches towards scaling up sustainable remote microgrids for solving energy crisis issues. As it were, the practical contribution of the thesis is critical in identifying and characterizing the dimensions of the Sustainable Developing Goal 7 for “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and its impact on the other SDGs, thereby enabling progress towards the target 2030 of the United Nations.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Rizki Pauziah Siregar

Testimony is a statement made by a witness who saw the incident by himself and was at the scene at that time. Nothing can escape this evidence in the afterlife, nor can it be manipulated in the slightest. So the source of the problem that will be discussed is how to witness the body and the interpretation of the rationality of the testimony of the limbs in QS. Yasin: 65. The research approach used by the author is a qualitative approach and is more inclined to follow library research and uses thematic analysis methods, this research will rely on the interpretation of Al-Jawahir Fi Tafsiril Qur'an by Tantawi Jauhari and books. as primary sources, research journals, and research theses as secondary sources. And what is relevant to this research, the results of the testimony of the limbs according to tantawi Jauhari are that the limbs will testify and it is not only in the afterlife, the body can testify against its owner. but even in the law that applies in the world, the limb that can be used to prove it, to reveal a crime such as murder or abuse. Here the limbs are like hands, it can help to expose the crime. One of them uses a DNA or fingerprint test, and only Allah will see what the testimony on the Day of Judgment is.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. pp95-103
Author(s):  
Noel Pearse

Qualitative research has been criticised for not building a distinctive body of knowledge, leading to fewer publications and citations. In the light of this critique, this paper offers guidance on how qualitative researchers can contribute to developing a distinctive and cumulative body of knowledge, thereby attracting more attention to their research. In pursuit of this aim, there are four objectives addressed in this paper. The first objective is to explain the relevance and value of deductive qualitative approaches to theory building. Secondly, to illustrate how examining the maturation of a concept can help decide the appropriateness of a particular research approach. This paper explains how in their planning, researchers need to confirm their intention to contribute to theory development and to ensure that this is appropriate, given the stage of maturation of the concept to be investigated. The third objective is to offer guidance on the philosophical assumptions of the researcher and how to test research propositions. Therefore, it is advised that data collection and analysis should take place within a post-positivist paradigm, and that the field work should be designed and carried out with research propositions as a point of departure. The final research objective is to explain how the findings of a deductive qualitative study should be handled to demonstrate the contribution of the study to the body of knowledge. Here guidance is offered on the contextualisation and generalisation of research findings.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Awie Leonard

The establishment of social relationships between information technology (IT) project team members is a phenomenon all IT professionals are exposed to and, in many cases, involved in. Furthermore, these relationships are used by IT project team members for personal as well as professional purposes. The question is what positive or negative contributions do these kinds of relationships have on the project itself? Past studies have placed little focus on these social relationships and networks, and have failed to take cognisance of their importance in the IT project environment. This paper demonstrates that social relationships and networks in the IT project environment play a significant role in project teams and should be managed in such a way that the team members and the project as a whole can benefit from them. A partial grounded theory (GT) research approach was followed. Interpretive patterns from GT enabled inferences to be drawn about the role and impact of social relationships and networks in IT project teams. The research findings provide practical considerations and highlight potential problem areas. A conceptual framework is proposed to support management in decision making and to give them a better understanding of the complexities involved in such relationships.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhi Chatterjee ◽  
Daniel Burmester ◽  
Alan Brent ◽  
Ramesh Rayudu

Recent reports from international energy agencies indicate that more than a billion of the population in the world is deprived of basic electricity provisions, confined mainly to the remote communities of developing nations. Microgrids are promoted as a potential technology for electricity provisions to off-grid rural communities, but have failed to reach their value proposition in the context of rural electrification access. In view of the rampant rural electrification issues, the objective of this paper is to furnish an understanding of, and advance the knowledge into, methods to facilitate the design and development of microgrid systems for remote communities in developing countries. The methodology involves an integrative review process of an annotated bibliography to summarise past empirical or theoretical literature. As such, this research is based on evaluation attributes, and identifies the challenges and barriers for remote microgrids through an analysis of 19 case studies. The paper concludes by proposing key aspects that need to be considered for developing a framework to improve the sustainability of electricity provisions for off-grid rural communities in developing countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Lina Fiitriani ◽  
Hilki Ofan

The problem of stunting (stunting) is one of the nutritional problems faced in the world, especially in poor and developing countries. This study aims to determine the relationship between age and parity with the incidence of stunting in children aged 0-59 months. The research design used was analytical survey method with a cross sectional research approach. The population in this study were all children aged 0-59 months. The number of samples was 67 children. The results showed that there was a relationship between age and the incidence of stunting in children aged 0-59 months with a value of 0.000 (<0.05). While the results ofthe research on the relationship between parity and the incidence of stunting in children aged 0-59 months, the value was 0.002 (<0.05), which means that there is a relationship between parity and the incidence of stunting in children aged 0-59 months.


2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 774-789
Author(s):  
Happy Ngwira ◽  
Onoriode Collins Potokri

The quest of beginner teachers becoming experienced teachers remains a major issue within the educational terrain. Induction experience(s) of beginner teachers particularly women in selected community secondary schools in South Africa was the focus of this research. In this research, the problems that women beginner teachers face at some selected schools, as well as the types of induction programmes used to support them, as they grappled with the problems, were explored. A qualitative research approach involving semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation was used in the collection of the requisite data. A sample comprising two community secondary schools and four women beginner teachers were selected to take part in the research. To make meaning of the data which were collected, inductive analysis of the data was conducted. Communities of Practice was used as the theory that underpinned the research findings reported in this paper. Based on the data analysis and the communities of practice theory that served as the framework, the paper among other findings reports that induction programmes used in sampled/selected schools were highly ineffective in supporting the women beginner teachers to overcome the problems revealed. The research contributes to the body of knowledge on the lived experiences of beginner teachers at the beginning of their teaching career and provides recommendations on classroom management and dealing with ill-disciplined learners. Keywords: beginner teacher; community practice; education leadership; teachers’ induction; women teacher.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkatesh Ramaswamy Naik

Background: The cancer is caused when cells start dividing abnormally in the body. Age, genetics and lifestyle are major risk factors in developing cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund states that colorectal cancer incidence is globally ranked third in men and second in women. This highlights the need for effective screening and management of colorectal cancer to achieve better prognosis to prevent mortality and morbidity. Screening and management are not uniform all over the world, and it is affected by the economy of individual countries. In this context, we aimed to explore the prognosis of colorectal cancer in developed and developing countries and also to look for the factors affecting the prognosis.Material and Methods: A systematic search of the peer-reviewed journals from databases at Perdana University library which includes British Medical Journal, Up To Date, The Lancet, and Pubmed was done to answer the research questions. Results: We found that developed countries were in the west having a predominantly Caucasian population. The 5-year survival of patients with colorectal cancer (2008-13) was found to be least in Poland and the highest in Australia. In the developing countries it was found to have a broad representation from different ethnicities. The 5-year survival of colorectal cancer fwas ound to be least in Ghana and highest in Turkey.Conclusion: Looking at the results, the range of prognosis among developed countries is narrower than those in developing countries. This may be due to standardized screening and treatment practice in developed countries.


Author(s):  
H. S. Hassan ◽  
E. Shehab ◽  
J. Peppard

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for explaining the main barriers and drivers of public e-service development and the relationships among them, especially in developing countries. This framework increases the chance of success of e-service projects in the governments of developing countries and provides a basic context within which the process and practice of e-service can be implemented successfully. This paper accomplishes this task by flowing from the traditional rigid context, which occurs in many developing countries, to full public e-service environment, emphasizing citizen-centric focus and digitalisation. The proposed framework builds on prior literature in the area of e-service development in public organisations and from the efforts undertaken in developing countries, considering e-government lessons learned in developing countries. The framework is flexible enough to be adopted by governments at different levels in developing countries around the world.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. iv-iv ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther

In 2013, the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation's (CRC-REP) Remote Education Systems (RES) project team brought together a collection of papers built around a central theme of ‘red dirt thinking’. This theme reflected a view the authors had, that education and schooling in remote communities should be relevant to the context (that is, the ‘red dirt’) in which it is provided. We proposed this as a conceptual framework in which to challenge conventional wisdom about success, disadvantage and aspiration in remote schools.


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