Consumers' first impressions of consumption environments: a cultural perspective

El propósito de este trabajo es analizar las diferencias culturales entre los consumidores finlandeses y españoles en lo que respecta a los aspectos visuales de los entornos de consumo. El texto aborda estas cuestiones mediante la ampliación del análisis de la percepción de los consumidores de las claves del entorno al estudio de la experiencia de los entornos de consumo. El objeto de este artículo es, en primer lugar, analizar los generadores de las primeras impresiones visuales en el consumidor y, en segundo lugar, estudiar el mecanismo de aproximación-evitación al evocar la dimensión de los entornos visuales. Los datos se recogieron mediante entrevistas personales en Finlandia y España. Se mostraron seis fotos de interiores de cafés a 200 encuestados de Finlandia y a otros 200 encuestados de España. A los encuestados se les pidió que eligieran el café al que les gustaría y al que no les gustaría ir y después decir por qué lo habían elegido. En el artículo se explica la forma en que los generadores de las primeras impresiones visuales (rasgos distintivos, estilo, atmósfera, funcionalidad y accesibilidad) se relacionan con los cuatro mecanismos de aproximación-evitación al evocar las dimensiones de los entornos visuales (percibir, pensar, sentir y actuar) Los resultados iniciales indican cómo una misma dimensión evaluativa puede producir tanto conductas de aproximación como de evitación. En el documento se señalan y analizan las diferencias culturales en lo que se refiere a las estimaciones de los consumidores y a la interpretación de los entornos visuale

Weekly precipitation cycles? Lack of evidence from United States surface stations

[1] Previouswork has inferred a relationship between human activity and the occurrence and amount of precipitation through examining possible weekly cycles in precipitation. Daily precipitation records for 219 surface observing stations in the United States for the 42-year period 1951– 1992 are investigated for weekly cycles in precipitation. Results indicate that neither the occurrence nor amount of precipitation significantly depends upon the day of th

Can chemical effects on cloud droplet number rival the first indirect effect?

An increase in cloud droplet number concentration resulting from an increase in ambient aerosol (and subsequent albedo increase) is typically identified as the first indirect (or “Twomey”) climatic effect of aerosols [Twomey, 1974]. A key question is whether chemical effects (dissolution of soluble gases and slightly soluble substances, surface tension depression by organic substances and accommodation coefficient changes) could potentially rival changes in droplet number from changes in aerosol number concentration. We assess the sensitivity of cloud droplet number concentration to such chemical factors, using a cloud parcel model. We find that numerous conditions exist, for which chemical influences on cloud droplet activation can indeed rival the Twomey effect

Accelerated Real-Time Simulations for Testing a Reactive Power Flow Controller in Long-Term Case Studies

This paper presents the development of an accelerated real-time cosimulation and testing platform, especially for long-term simulations of power systems. The platform is planned to be utilized in the development and testing of active network management functions for microgrids and smart grids. Long-term simulations are needed in order to study, for example, the potential weekly, monthly, or yearly usage of distribution-network-connected distributed energy resources for different technical flexibility services. In order to test new algorithms in long-term study cases, real-time simulations or hardware-in-the-loop tests should be accelerated. This paper analyzes the possibilities and challenges of accelerated long-term simulations in studying the potential use of a large-scale wind turbine for reactive power flow control between distribution system operator (DSO) and transmission system operator (TSO) networks. To this end, the reactive power flow control is studied for different voltage levels (HV and MV) in the Sundom Smart Grid in Vaasa, Finland. The control of reactive power flow between HV and MV networks is realized with a reactive power window control algorithm for a 3.6 MW MV-network-connected wind turbine with a full-scale power converter. The behaviour of the reactive power controller during long-term simulations is studied by offline and real-time simulations. Moreover, the real-time simulations are performed with both software-in-the-loop and controller-hardware-in-the-loop.Copyright © 2020 Katja H. Sirviö et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Controller development for reactive power flow management between DSO and TSO networks

In the future, new solutions for active and reactive power control related to the flexibility services offered by distributed energy resources (DER) will be needed even more. One ancillary service which DER could provide is the reactive power flow management between DSO and TSO networks. This research aims to develop a reactive power controller from a preliminary algorithm to a light-weight IED for a wind turbine converter. The purpose of the controller is to maintain the reactive power flow of a medium voltage network within the limit set by a transmission system operator. In his paper, the controller development stages are presented - starting from the preliminary algorithm development by Simscape Power Systems to real hardware and testing it by Controller-Hardware-In-the-Loop simulations. The operation of the controller is investigated in the different development stages of the power network. The outcome is the development suggestions of the real-time simulation platform, as well as the discussion of further improvement possibilities for the controller.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed