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This paper reports on the modelling of a commercial 1.2 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), based on interrelated electrical and thermal models. The electrical model proposed is based on the integration of the thermodynamic and electrochemical phenomena taking place in the FC whilst the thermal model is established from the FC thermal energy balance. The combination of both models makes it possible to predict the FC voltage, based on the current demanded and the ambient temperature. Furthermore, an experimental characterization is conducted and the parameters for the models associated with the FC electrical and thermal performance are obtained. The models are implemented in Matlab Simulink and validated in a number of operating environments, for steady-state and dynamic modes alike. In turn, the FC models are validated in an actual microgrid operating environment, through the series connection of 4 PEMFC. The simulations of the models precisely and accurately reproduce the FC electrical and thermal performance. ; The authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grant DPI2010-21671-C02-01 and the Government of Navarre and FEDER funds under project "Microgrids in Navarra: design and implementation".

AbstractThis article examines the responses of sub-national governments to international agreements that severely reduce their policy discretion. I focus on their decision to subject public procurement to international competition by joining the Agreement of Government Procurement (GPA) of the World Trade Organization. In a public procurement market, a government becomes both a market participant and a market regulator. I argue that the propensity of governments to join the GPA, thus reducing their discretion as market regulators, depends on the degree of local political competition. Studying state governments in the United States, I find that the degree of political competition positively affects not only the propensity to join the GPA but also the amount of procurement that a government subjects to international competition.

The aim of this paper is to assess the level of agricultural insurance development for family agricultural farms in Serbia and Croatia. To that end, a comparative analysis of the characteristics of agricultural insurance and of the level of its development for family agricultural farms was conducted for these two countries, which were taken as comparative examples due to significant similarities relevant for the subject of research. According to the categorization of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the territories of both countries are dominated by rural areas which are, according to the structure of the agricultural entities, dominated by family agricultural farms, while agriculture has approximately the same share in gross domestic product (GDP) of both countries. The author analyzes the development of agricultural insurance from 2006 to 2018, with family agricultural farms that can be considered micro enterprises important for the growth of the insurance industry in the observed countries. Based on the conducted research, the author concludes that in both Serbia and Croatia, agricultural insurance of family agricultural farms is underdeveloped and that there are significant opportunities for the growth of the insurance industry in this market segment. In 2018, only 3.99% of all family agricultural farms in Serbia were insured, with this percentage being 4.26% in Croatia. Bearing in mind that supply is satisfactory, that solvency should not be viewed as a problem, as is often done, given there is significant subsidization of agricultural insurance premiums, it will be necessary, before all, to develop demand.

1 sheet ([1] p.) ; Title from caption and opening lines of text. ; Date and place of publication from Wing. ; Order to print dated: Saturday March 17. 1659. At the Council of State at VVhitehal. Signed: W. Jessop, Clerk of the Council. ; Annotation on Thomason copy: "March 19". ; Reproductions of the originals in the British Library and the Harvard University Library.

The Netherlands and Belgium exemplified the pathology of 'welfare without work' that characterized continental welfare states - until a political crisis in both countries produced a surprising divergence in scope and extent of policy change in the early 1990s. In Belgium, government announced major reforms but its social security arrangements proved remarkably resilient. In the Netherlands, policy makers announced and implemented unprecedented cutbacks and a major overhaul of the disability benefit administration and supervision. This book argues that reform is the product of the deliberate construction of a crisis as an imperative for change. It explains how crisis rhetoric resulted in drastic policy change in the Netherlands and in incremental change in Belgium. - Nederland en België waren beiden het toonbeeld van 'welvaart zonder werk'. Beide landen kenden een hoge uitkeringsafhankelijkheid en een lage arbeidsparticipatie, totdat begin jaren negentig de 'politieke crisis' losbarstte. In België werd opgeroepen tot een 'Globaal Pakt' en een structurele herziening van het sociale zekerheidssysteem. De Belgische instituties bleken echter weerbarstig en veranderden nauwelijks. In Nederland werd drastisch gesneden in de uitkeringen, de Arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering en de corporatistische uitvoeringsstructuur werden ingrijpend gewijzigd. In deze unieke vergelijkende studie wordt onderzocht waarom vergelijkbare problemen in vergelijkbare landen leidden tot verschillende overheidsinterventies. Niet eerder werden Nederland en België op dit onderwerp met elkaar vergeleken. De verschillen in de hervormingen tussen beide landen worden verklaard vanuit de crisisretoriek die door politici werd gebruikt om structurele problemen aan te pakken en ingrijpende hervormingen door te drukken.

Through the history of the short-lived 1947 radio show La Tribune de l'Invalide, this article examines how the social and political context of the Liberation offered disability activists a unique opportunity to demand pensions, medical care, and social services hitherto denied to them by the
French state. Drawing on transcripts of the broadcasts and correspondence between listeners and the show's host Maurice Didier, the article demonstrates how disability activists played a pivotal, if little acknowledged, role in the construction of the postwar welfare state by highlighting French society's historic neglect of disabled civilians.

Nowosad Inetta, Społeczno-kulturowe uwarunkowania demokratyzacji edukacji na Tajwanie [Social and cultural preconditions for the process of democratization in Taiwanese education]. Kultura – Społeczeństwo – Edukacja nr 2(14) 2018, Poznań 2018, pp. 137–154, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2018.14.12. The article focuses on changes introduced in Taiwan's education since 1949, which reflect the social changes taking place in this country. Special attention is drawn to the origin and the course of two particularly important processes, i.e. democratisation and taiwanisation, which have radically changed the face of education, revealing Taiwan's 'balancing' between the East and the West. While depicting their essence, also complex links with Taiwan's policies towards China and its orientation onto economic growth were taken into account. ; Nowosad Inetta, Społeczno-kulturowe uwarunkowania demokratyzacji edukacji na Tajwanie [Social and cultural preconditions for the process of democratization in Taiwanese education]. Kultura – Społeczeństwo – Edukacja nr 2(14) 2018, Poznań 2018, pp. 137–154, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2018.14.12. The article focuses on changes introduced in Taiwan's education since 1949, which reflect the social changes taking place in this country. Special attention is drawn to the origin and the course of two particularly important processes, i.e. democratisation and taiwanisation, which have radically changed the face of education, revealing Taiwan's 'balancing' between the East and the West. While depicting their essence, also complex links with Taiwan's policies towards China and its orientation onto economic growth were taken into account.

Board of Education plan to desegregation vocation and technical training in Chattanooga public schools.