Recently Fisher-Vanden et al (2004) have used firm level data to estimate an energy intensity function for a large number of enterprises in China. This is the first study to use the regression approach to examining the relationships between fuel prices and fuel consumption in China. One of the major findings of the study is that firms are very responsive to relative fuel price changes. However,...

The effect of heat-island reduction (HIR) strategies on annual energy savings and peak-power avoidance of the building sector of the Greater Toronto Area is calculated, using an hourly building energy simulation model. Results show that ratepayers could realize potential annual energy savings of over $11M from the effects of HIR strategies. The residential sector accounts for over half (59%) of...

Smart grids have become a topic of intensive research, development, and deployment across the world over the last few years. The engagement of consumer sectors—residential, commercial, and industrial—is widely acknowledged as a key requirement for the projected benefits of smart grids to be realized. Although the industrial sector has traditionally been involved in managing power use with what ...

BACKGROUND There is scope to improve the quality of life (QOL) of people with dementia living in residential care facilities (RCF). The DIRECT study will determine if delivery of education to General Practitioners (GPs) and care staff improves the quality of life of residential care recipients with cognitive impairment. METHODS/DESIGN A prospective randomised controlled trial conducted in res...

The Washington Circle, a group focused on developing and disseminating performance measures for substance abuse services, developed three such measures for private health plans. In this article, we explore whether these measures are appropriate for meeting measurement goals in the public sector and feasible to calculate in the public sector using data collected for administrative purposes by st...

Residential and nursing homes provide an essential contribution towards the care of people with dementia. It is a challenge to provide good care within tight budgets and often with a workforce that has little formal training. Most people are cared for within the private sector, although a limited number of NHS beds provide continuing care for people with severe dementia and intractable behaviou...

A multiple-year inventory of atmospheric antimony (Sb) emissions from coal combustion in China for the period of 1980-2007 has been calculated for the first time. Specifically, the emission inventories of Sb from 30 provinces and 4 economic sectors (thermal power, industry, residential use, and others) are evaluated and analyzed in detail. It shows that the total Sb emissions released from coal...

The real estate sector has been a major source of strength for the global economy since the most recent economic downturn. This has been particularly true of the residential property sector: in most countries house prices have been quite strong over the past few years. Rising house prices, together with low interest rates, have boosted mortgage refinancing activities, encouraged consumer spendi...

OBJECTIVES To examine how organizational factors affect good care and mistreatment of older people in care homes. METHODS Eight residential care homes for older people (including private sector, local authority and NHS providers) took part in a participatory observation-based study of organizational factors affecting care quality. RESULTS Grouping organizational factors into infrastructure,...

In the analysis of property markets, most research focuses on either the commercial or the housing sector. Each body of literature has developed its own ‘stylized facts’ about ‘normal’ values of property such as income yields and price elasticities of supply, around which cyclical models have been built. However, what is treated as normal in one sector may appear as unusual and requiring specia...