China’s educational leaders have long debated the pluses and minuses of decentralization of control and resources of China’s vast educational enterprise. During various periods of post‐1949 China, the central authorities have devolved control to the provinces, key cities, and rural communes, only to recentralize later usually due to political reforms. In this chapter various stages of the educational reform movement begun in 1985 will be considered and we will focus on what motivated the reforms in the context of China’s unique political culture. Some specific features of educational decentralization will be examined such as finance, curriculum and management. We conclude that while the current leadership appears to be committed to decentralization, they remain conflicted over the need to maintain control while at the same time respond creatively to the needs of the new market economy.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a critical technology for integrating high penetration renewable power on an intelligent electrical grid. As limited energy restricts the steady-state operational state-of-charge (SoC) of storage systems, SoC forecasting models are used to determine feasible charge and discharge schedules that supply grid services. Smart grid controllers use SoC forecasts to optimize BESS schedules to make grid operation more efficient and resilient. This paper presents three advances in BESS SoC forecasting. First, two forecasting models are reformulated to be conducive to parameter optimization. Second, a new method for selecting optimal parameter values based on operational data is presented. Last, a new framework for quantifying model accuracy is developed that enables a comparison between models, systems, and parameter selection methods. The accuracies achieved by both models, on two example battery systems, with each method of parameter selection are then compared in detail. The results of this analysis suggest variation in the suitability of these models for different battery types and applications. The proposed model formulations, optimization methods, and accuracy assessment framework can be used to improve the accuracy of SoC forecasts enabling better control over BESS charge/discharge schedules.

No abstract

No abstract

The international Construction Sector Transparency Initiative brings government, the private sector and civil society together with the aim of promoting transparency and accountability in the global construction sector. The UK was one of seven pilot countries along with Ethiopia, Malawi, the Philippines, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia, later joined by Guatemala. This paper explains why the initiative is of importance to not only the public, who fund the procurement of public sector construction projects through rates and taxes, but also to construction professionals and the organisations they work for worldwide. It explains the concepts of the multi-stakeholder approach and disclosure, and highlights the findings and lessons from the pilots.