175 research outputs found
Demand Response in Smart Grids
The Special Issue “Demand Response in Smart Grids” includes 11 papers on a variety of topics. The success of this Special Issue demonstrates the relevance of demand response programs and events in the operation of power and energy systems at both the distribution level and at the wide power system level. This reprint addresses the design, implementation, and operation of demand response programs, with focus on methods and techniques to achieve an optimized operation as well as on the electricity consumer
Autonomous Sensing Nodes for IoT Applications
The present doctoral thesis fits into the energy harvesting framework, presenting the development of low-power nodes compliant with the energy autonomy requirement, and sharing common technologies and architectures, but based on different energy sources and sensing mechanisms. The adopted approach is aimed at evaluating multiple aspects of the system in its entirety (i.e., the energy harvesting mechanism, the choice of the harvester, the study of the sensing process, the selection of the electronic devices for processing, acquisition and measurement, the electronic design, the microcontroller unit (MCU) programming techniques), accounting for very challenging constraints as the low amounts of harvested power (i.e., [μW, mW] range), the careful management of the available energy, the coexistence of sensing and radio transmitting features with ultra-low power requirements. Commercial sensors are mainly used to meet the cost-effectiveness and the large-scale reproducibility requirements, however also customized sensors for a specific application (soil moisture measurement), together with appropriate characterization and reading circuits, are also presented.
Two different strategies have been pursued which led to the development of two types of sensor nodes, which are referred to as 'sensor tags' and 'self-sufficient sensor nodes'. The first term refers to completely passive sensor nodes without an on-board battery as storage element and which operate only in the presence of the energy source, provisioning energy from it. In this thesis, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) sensor tag for soil moisture monitoring powered by the impinging electromagnetic field is presented. The second term identifies sensor nodes equipped with a battery rechargeable through energy scavenging and working as a secondary reserve in case of absence of the primary energy source. In this thesis, quasi-real-time multi-purpose monitoring LoRaWAN nodes harvesting energy from thermoelectricity, diffused solar light, indoor white light, and artificial colored light are presented
Geographic information extraction from texts
A large volume of unstructured texts, containing valuable geographic information, is available online. This information – provided implicitly or explicitly – is useful not only for scientific studies (e.g., spatial humanities) but also for many practical applications (e.g., geographic information retrieval). Although large progress has been achieved in geographic information extraction from texts, there are still unsolved challenges and issues, ranging from methods, systems, and data, to applications and privacy. Therefore, this workshop will provide a timely opportunity to discuss the recent advances, new ideas, and concepts but also identify research gaps in geographic information extraction
Regenerative Circularity for the Built Environment – A Positive Impact Framework for Urban Transitions
The detrimental impacts of human activities on social and ecological systems are increasingly evident, with cities and their inefficient built environment (BE) stock being significant contributors. Neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools (NSATs) have been developed by the BE sector for new precincts; however, many have limitations and adopt linear approaches unsuitable for complex urban areas. While the circular economy (CE) model has gained global attention, its integration into NSATs remains limited.
This thesis adopts a cross-pollination perspective, combining the CE model with regenerative design concepts. Through inductive content analysis, the 'Regenerative Circularity for the Built Environment' (RC4BE) conceptual model is proposed. Based on this model, a framework is developed to support the positive impact-based transition of existing urban precincts and neighbourhoods.
To explore current green practices, six ecological urban developments across three continents were studied. Surveys and semi-structured interviews with over 150 BE professionals examined their practices and perceptions of regenerative and circular approaches. A 2-round Delphi consultation with 31 international experts validated a set of five themes, 26 categories, and 136 criteria derived from literature and previous stages. This informed the design of a mixed performance-based and maturity model assessment framework with four different evaluation components.
The findings suggest shortcomings in existing NSATs and green precincts, while experts express a desire to improve their practises. The resulting RC4BE framework provides a flexible, systemic approach that is adaptable to different contexts while also empowering various urban players. It serves as a platform for citizen-led community improvements towards positive impacts.
This thesis contributes to the development of sustainable cities by presenting a unique framework that incorporates circular and regenerative design concepts. It goes beyond traditional approaches to sustainability by emphasising neighbourhood-scale transformations and recognising the critical role of local communities. Along with environmental and economic issues, social factors as community participation and equity are considered. The framework's holistic, process-based approach recognises the interdependence of urban systems. By involving BE practitioners and stakeholders, a more inclusive, realistic implementation is ensured, boosting real-world relevance and impact
Crowdfunding Non-fungible Tokens on the Blockchain
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been used as a way of rewarding content creators. Artists publish their works on the blockchain as NFTs, which they can then sell. The buyer of an NFT then holds ownership of a unique digital asset, which can be resold in much the same way that real-world art collectors might trade paintings. However, while a deal of effort has been spent on selling works of art on the blockchain, very little attention has been paid to using the blockchain as a means of fundraising to help finance the artist’s work in the first place. Additionally, while blockchains like Ethereum are ideal for smaller works of art, additional support is needed when the artwork is larger than is feasible to store on the blockchain. In this paper, we propose a fundraising mechanism that will help artists to gain financial support for their initiatives, and where the backers can receive a share of the profits in exchange for their support. We discuss our prototype implementation using the SpartanGold framework. We then discuss how this system could be expanded to support large NFTs with the 0Chain blockchain, and describe how we could provide support for ongoing storage of these NFTs
Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa
This Handbook provides an authoritative and foundational disciplinary overview of African Public Policy and a comprehensive examination of the practicalities of policy analysis, policymaking processes, implementation, and administration in Africa today. The book assembles a multidisciplinary team of distinguished and upcoming Africanist scholars, practitioners, researchers and policy experts working inside and outside Africa to analyse the historical and emerging policy issues in 21st-century Africa. While mostly attentive to comparative public policy in Africa, this book attempts to address some of the following pertinent questions: • How can public policy be understood and taught in Africa? • How does policymaking occur in unstable political contexts, or in states under pressure? • Has the democratisation of governing systems improved policy processes in Africa? • How have recent transformations, such as technological proliferation in Africa, impacted public policy processes? • What are the underlying challenges and potential policy paths for Africa going forward? The contributions examine an interplay of prevailing institutional, political, structural challenges and opportunities for policy effectiveness to discern striking commonalities and trajectories across different African states. This is a valuable resource for practitioners, politicians, researchers, university students, and academics interested in studying and understanding how African countries are governed
A Personalized Medicine Approach to the Diagnosis and Management of Autism Spectrum Disorder
This collection of articles provides an overview of the current and future methods for applying a personalized medicine approach to the diagnosis, management, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder
Como as coligações ciclistas modificam a cultura da bicicleta: análise da mudança na política de mobilidade em Lisboa 2009-2021
Cycling is currently recognised as a vital part of most developed sustainable
urban mobility systems, contributing to acknowledged gains in climate change
mitigation, health, social, economic, environmental, and travel speed issues,
explaining in part its recent resurgence in cities worldwide. Despite the benefits,
public policy on cycling has not developed smoothly. Many cities continue to
stall or ignore effective output implementation to promote cycling as a
legitimate mobility mode. Most research and policy focus on infrastructure
solutions to implement change. This research, by contrast, focuses on an
innovative approach to advance scholarship, namely how cyclists’ advocacy
coalitions shape decision-making and place cycling on the political agenda
where it was previously ignored or side-lined. The dissertation applies the
concept of the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) to analyse the mechanisms
which activate and sustain policy change. This thesis analyses the city of
Lisbon in Portugal as a case-study of conurbation to analyse how change has
been leveraged during the thirteen-year time frame between 2009 and 2021,
using both detailed comparative analysis and advancing scholarship on cycling
more generally. The qualitative analysis employs the scholarship, documents,
notes taken from personal professional experience in policy formulation and
implementation, and eleven anonymous interviews with policy actors involved
to different extents in the process during the study period. These quantitative
outcomes are gauged using available data from several surveys and counts to
substantiate the relation between the outputs produced and outcomes achieved
in combination with detailed data from cycle traffic moving counts I have carried
out since 2009. The research structure is designed to provide insights on how
the broad-based cyclists’ coalition has shaped policy formulation and
implementation in a city where cycling had a low cultural status and low rates to
generate ‘new knowledge’ regarding the subsystem in Portugal and other
comparable contexts.A utilização da bicicleta é atualmente reconhecida como parte vital do sistema
de mobilidade urbana sustentável das cidades mais desenvolvidas,
contribuindo para ganhos na mitigação das alterações climáticas, benefícios de
saúde, sociais, económicos, ambientais, e na velocidade das deslocações,
explicando em parte o recente ressurgimento deste modo em cidades por todo
o mundo. Apesar destes benefícios, as políticas públicas não se têm
desenvolvido facilmente nesta matéria. Muitas cidades continuam a atrasar ou
a excluir a implementação de medidas efetivas para promover a bicicleta como
modo de mobilidade legítimo. A maioria das investigações e políticas remetem
para soluções infraestruturais para fomentar a transição. Esta investigação, por
outro lado, emprega uma abordagem inovadora para o avanço do
conhecimento, designadamente, como as coligações de utilizadores de
bicicleta transformam o processo de decisão e colocam a bicicleta na agenda
política onde antes este modo de mobilidade era ignorado ou marginalizado. A
dissertação adota a base teórica do ‘advocacy coalition framework’ (ACF) para
analisar os mecanismos que ativam e sustentam a mudança de políticas. Esta
tese analisa a cidade de Lisboa em Portugal como caso de estudo,
considerando a conurbação, para analisar como a mudança foi realizada
durante o período de treze anos entre 2009 e 2021, empregando análises
comparativas detalhadas para avançar no conhecimento sobre a utilização da
bicicleta em geral. A análise qualitativa analisou a literatura científica,
documentos, notas provenientes da experiência pessoal e profissional na
formulação e implementação de políticas, e onze entrevistas anónimas com
variados atores políticos, envolvidos no processo durante o período do estudo
de diferentes formas. Os resultados quantitativos são analisados através de
dados disponíveis provenientes de diferentes pesquisas e contagens para
fundamentar a relação entre as medidas implementadas e os resultados
alcançados, complementados com dados pormenorizados de contagens de
tráfego ciclável realizados desde 2009. A estrutura desta investigação foi
projetada para aprofundar o conhecimento sobre a ampla coligação de
utilizadores de bicicleta e como esta transformou a formulação e
implementação de políticas, numa cidade onde o status cultural e as taxas de
utilização da bicicleta eram reduzidos, para gerar 'novo conhecimento' sobre o
subsistema em Portugal e outros contextos comparáveis.Programa Doutoral em Políticas Pública
Three Risky Decades: A Time for Econophysics?
Our Special Issue we publish at a turning point, which we have not dealt with since World War II. The interconnected long-term global shocks such as the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and catastrophic climate change have imposed significant humanitary, socio-economic, political, and environmental restrictions on the globalization process and all aspects of economic and social life including the existence of individual people. The planet is trapped—the current situation seems to be the prelude to an apocalypse whose long-term effects we will have for decades. Therefore, it urgently requires a concept of the planet's survival to be built—only on this basis can the conditions for its development be created. The Special Issue gives evidence of the state of econophysics before the current situation. Therefore, it can provide excellent econophysics or an inter-and cross-disciplinary starting point of a rational approach to a new era
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