Regulatory Instruments for Deployment of Clean Energy Technologies

Answering to the formidable challenge of climate change calls for a quick transition to a future economy with a drastic reduction in GHG emissions. And this in turn requires the development and massive deployment of new low-carbon energy technologies as soon as possible. Although many of these technologies have been identified, the critical issue is how to make them happen at the global level, possibly by integrating this effort into a global climate regime. This paper discusses the preferred approaches to foster low-carbon energy technologies from a regulatory point of view. Specific promotion policies for energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear power are examined, but the focus is on the regulatory instruments that will be needed for the deployment of enhancements to electricity grids and the associated control systems so that they are able to integrate intelligent demand response, distributed generation and storage in an efficient, reliable & environmentally responsible manner. The paper also comments on the interactions between technology and climate change policies and provides recommendations for policy makers.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research

People’s experiences of conditional welfare support: the case of Prospera in Mexico

This thesis is an investigation into the lived experiences of people in poverty. Through the voices of beneficiaries of a conditional cash transfer programme in Mexico, it aims to explain the relationship between neoliberalism, social policy and poverty. To that end, it develops the mechanisms that connect the material hardships with the relational and symbolical experiences of poverty. The findings of this thesis evidence the specific forms in which conditioning government support on proving personal worth pushes people further away from society; from their control over their living conditions and ultimately from their power to lead a life of their own choosing. The results of this thesis evidence the reproduction of inequalities and the trapping of people living in worse off political, economic and symbolic conditions in poverty. The voices and experiences of research participants attest to the injuries of a “one-size-fits-all” approach to poverty alleviation

A Comprehensive Approach for Computation and Implementation of Efficient Electricity Transmission Network Charges

This paper presents a comprehensive design of electricity transmission charges that are meant to recover regulated network costs. In addition, these charges must be able to meet a set of inter-related objectives. Most importantly, they should encourage potential network users to internalize transmission costs in their location decisions, while interfering as least as possible with the short-term behaviour of the agents in the power system, since this should be left to regulatory instruments in the operation time range. The paper also addresses all those implementation issues that are essential for the sound design of a system of transmission network charges: stability and predictability of the charges; fair and efficient split between generation and demand charges; temporary measures to account for the low loading of most new lines; number and definition of the scenarios to be employed for the calculation and format of the final charges to be adopted: capacity, energy or per customer charges. The application of the proposed method is illustrated with a realistic numerical example that is based on a single scenario of the 2006 winter peak in the Spanish power system.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Spanish energy regulatory commission (CNE

Kite model with bridle control for wind-power generation

A compact flight dynamics model of a kite is developed by using Lagrangian formulation. The lengths of the three ropes of the bridle and the tether of the kite depend on time and are used to implement an open-loop control scheme of the kite system. By imposing simple time-periodic control laws, two pumping strategies for wind-energy generation are explored. Periodic trajectories of the system and their stability properties (Floquet characteristic multipliers) are computed numerically. As the amplitudes of the figure-eight paths are increased, the system becomes more efficient but less stable. A cyclic-fold bifurcation is detected for a very large lateral displacement of the kite. The impact of the control-law parameters on the generated power, including the period and the amplitude, is investigated. The results indicate that a correct design of the control could provide an optimal energy-generation system and a robust scheme to exploit high-altitude winds

Mimicking a robot: Facial EMG in response to emotional robotic facial expressions

Humans tend to anthropomorphize i.e., to attribute human-like characteristics (e.g. motivations, intentions, emotions) to non-humans. This suggests that we can interact with non-humans (televisions, computers, robots) in a similar way we interact with humans. Robots, in particular, have physical presence and can be programmed to display social interaction capabilities, i.e. to be social robots, amplifying those similarities. Past studies have shown that social robots in negative situations tend to elicit strong emotional responses and empathy in humans. However, it remains to be tested whether empathy can be felt towards a social robot, set in a situation of positive social interaction. We proposed that facial mimicry, one indicator of empathy, may occur towards a robot in a positive social context, i.e. while the robot is playing a board game with human opponents. Fifty-nine participants (46 females), aged 17 to 27 years (M=19.56, SD=2.11) were exposed to videos of a robotic head (EMYS, the EMotive headY System), previously programmed to display six emotional expressions (joy, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, sadness) and a neutral expression, while playing a board game. EMYS’s facial expressions were shown in two blocks: in the first, no social context was provided and sound was omitted; in the second, a positive social context was provided, which included sound of verbal interaction with humans. In each block, 14 videos were randomly presented. Facial electromyography (fEMG) activity, in response to EMYS’s facial expressions, was measured over the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. fEMG responses were calculated as difference from stimulus presentation to 1 sec baseline. Changes in fEMG reactivity, between conditions, were analyzed comparing fEMG responses to robotic emotional expressions with responses to robotic neutral expressions. In the positive social context condition, results revealed an overall reduction of corrugator supercilii reactivity for the majority of negative emotional expressions (except anger). There was also a significant reduction of the zygomaticus major activity to surprise, compared to neutral, in the positive social context. Overall, our results suggest the important role of the social context in our physiological responses to a robot, and more specifically a reduction of emotional negativity to non-threatening robotic facial expressions, displayed in a positive social context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Respuestas emocionales-motivacionales de los locales frente a los extranjeros hacia la comida tradicional Y no tradicional

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to study responses to traditional food of a country, focusing on emotion-motivational responses by locals and foreigners. Design/methodology/approach: Through an experimental design study, Portuguese and Foreign participants were exposed to both traditional and nontraditional food pictures of a country and asked to evaluate their emotional and motivational responses while physiological responses of electrodermal activity were continuously recorded. Predisposition factors of body dissatisfaction, food neophobia, and food involvement were also evaluated given their potential role in predicting the responses to the visualization of the food pictures. Findings: This study found that local traditional food received a higher positive evaluation than nontraditional food with locals evaluating it even higher than foreigners. Higher feelings of arousal and desire as well as willingness to try in response to traditional food were also found as well as higher feelings of pleasure by locals. However, interestingly, and contrary to expectations derived from previous literature, emotion-motivational responses were not significantly different between locals and foreigners. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research addressed an identified research gap in the literature, being the first one evaluating the autonomic responses of consumers to traditional food by exploring how local and foreign consumers respond to traditional food versus nontraditional food using psychophysiological measures of emotion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coeficientes de rozamiento estático y dinámico en la madera de pino silvestre (Pinus sylvestris L.), según las direcciones paralela y perpendicular a la fibra

In this study the static (µe) and kinetic (µd) coefficients of friction were obtained for Pinus sylvestis L. sawn timber of Spanish origin. Friction between transverse surfaces sliding perpendicular to the grain (tangential direction) and radial surfaces sliding parallel to the grain was analyzed. A specifically designed device was used for tests, which makes it possible to apply contact pressure and measure displacements and applied loads simultaneously. Coefficients of friction between transverse surfaces (µe = 0,24; µd = 0,17) were about twice of the coefficients of friction between radial surfaces (µe = 0,12; µd = 0,08). Furthermore, these values are located within normal values of those commonly reported for softwood. The results are considered preliminary due to the small number of specimens.En este estudio se determinaron los coeficientes de rozamiento, estático (µe) y dinámico (µd), en madera aserrada de Pinus sylvestris L. de procedencia española, diferenciando si se produce el contacto entre secciones de corte transversal con deslizamiento en dirección perpendicular a la fibra (en dirección tangencial), o entre secciones de corte radial con deslizamiento paralelo a la fibra. Para la realización de los ensayos se ha utilizado un dispositivo, diseñado específicamente, que posibilita la aplicación de una presión de contacto y la medición del desplazamiento y de la fuerza aplicada de manera simultánea, permitiendo la obtención de los coeficientes de rozamiento estático y dinámico. Los coeficientes de rozamiento obtenidos entre secciones transversales (µe = 0.24; µd = 0.17) fueron del orden del doble de los coeficientes de rozamiento entre secciones radiales (µe = 0.12; µd = 0.08). Además, estos valores se encuentran dentro de los valores que aparecen habitualmente en la bibliografía para madera de coníferas. Debido al escaso tamaño de la muestra los resultados se consideran preliminares