Effective Strategies for Building Trust in Virtual Teams

Virtual teams often fail to achieve their objectives because virtual team leaders lack strategies for nurturing trust among dispersed team members. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies virtual team leaders in large corporate banks use to build trust among virtual team members. The population of this study included 6 virtual team leaders from a large corporate bank located in the northeast region of the United States. The interpersonal trust theory was the conceptual framework of this study. Data were collected via semistructured telephone interviews and review of company documents. The data analysis process included content analysis and thematic analysis for theme identification. Data analysis revealed four themes related to strategies that leaders of virtual teams can use to build trust among team members: reliable technology, effective communication, teamwork and participation, and respect for people and culture. A fifth theme emerged related to barriers to trust strategies. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve work environments for virtual team members isolated because of the absence of a social context

Models for the Management and the Development of Hybrid Energy Systems: Case Study of Cameroon

My research begins with a literature review on past and ongoing research studies in the field of hybrid energy systems for remote areas with the objectives of (i) review the different schemes of hybrid energy system in islanding mode for remotes areas; (ii) focus on widely use optimization approaches for design and modeling of hybrid microgrids for electrification in remote areas; (iii) focus on photovoltaic, wind, fuel generator with/without storage; (iv) focus on four specific topologies of hybrid microgrids with or without storage system (PV; Wind; PV+Wind; PV+Wind+Diesel generator); (v) look for the advantages and the disadvantages of each topology of hybrid microgrid. The study reveals the diversify types of hybrid microgrids in the world depending on geographical locations, the variability definitions and applications of microgrids (from W to MW). The investigation result demonstrates the important role played by storage systems in electrification of remote areas. The second step was the acquisition data of solar irradiation and wind speed in all the ten regions of Cameroon. The objectives of this study was (i) have a reliable information about the irradiance and wind speed across the country; (ii) assess the potential of solar and wind energy; (iii) estimate of the hourly output power, the daily and yearly energy production of a PV panel and a wind generator; (iv) used solar and wind energy assessment to boost rural electrification in remote villages and contribute to energy supply; (v) use the solar and wind assessment to identify precisely the site for the future case study (Salak village). This study concludes that the Northern regions (Far North, North and Adamawa) have the highest wind Potential andmoving from the North to the South of the country, the average means wind speed decreases and the quite uniform distribution of solar radiation across the country when moving from North to South. This work finally confirmed that Cameroon has a good potential of solar and wind that can help to electrify remote villages across the country. The next step has been the assessment of hydro power plan potential. The objectives of this study was: (i) the identification of rivers that can be hugely exploited for hydroelectricity production; (ii) assess the potential of hydro power plants; (iii) use all the solar and wind potential for electrification and compensate the difference with hydro power plant. The result of this study shows that, according to the energy system distribution structure in Cameroon, the combination of different renewable energy sources with high fluctuations and hydropower can be reliable and cost effective solution for a growing energy demand. Finally the case study of the community of Salak in the Far North Cameroon which aims to propose an optimal design of hybrid energy eystems for rural electrification. The objective is (i) design and implement a model of hybrid energy system for rural electrification of the Salak village community; (ii) size and design a water production and distribution system; (iii) create an open source model simulator for optimal size and design of a hybrid energy system for rural electrification. The battery is modelled including its lifetime for economic evaluations using the rainflow counting method. The diesel generator must work inside its best efficient area of operation and a wide research has been done to retrieve such data for small size generators. An open source model has been built to help users in optimal size, design and management a hybrid energy system for rural electrification. This open source model demonstrates to be feasible for design, size and management of hybrid energy systems. This proposed hybrid energy system would not only resolved the electrification problem of the Salak rural area but could also preserved environment, help improving the quality of life by raising the level of the services

Hybrid energy systems for remote areas and the role of storage

This paper presents a review of different schemes of hybrid energy systems (HES) in islanding mode for remote areas with a focus on solutions for remote electrification which are basically composed by one or a mixed of different energy sources and storage systems. The paper analysis the widely used mathematical approaches for optimization, sizing and modeling of HES for isolated electrification areas including the role of storage system. This paper also analysis the advantages and disadvantages of different solutions proposed

Assessment of renewable energy resources in Cameroon and special regards on energy supply

Cameroon is a Sub-Saharan African country, situated in central Africa, located at latitude 6°00 N and longitude 12°00 E, it is crossed by the 10th parallel north of the equatorial plane. Solar and wind energy potential can be the key for economical success and better development in Cameroon and the whole central African region. According to Solargis database, Meteonorm Software, RETScreen International, NASA (surface meteorological and solar energy), SWERA (Solar and Wind Energy Assessment) and NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), the solar radiation average across the country is 4.9 kWh/ m2/day and the wind speed average across the country is 6 m/s. The exact sizes of the different renewable energy sources, their benefits and the market potential that can stimulate their uptake are not well-known. There is no reliable information about the potential of renewable energy resources in Cameroon and free available information is very rough. Cameroon like most developing countries does not have a reliable network of surface observation stations for collecting weather data. A viable and alternative solution can be, taking into account the specificities of each region and see which type of renewable resources are available and how the combination of different type of renewable resources can be made in the most appropriate way for energy supply. Work on reliability and cost-effective measurements to determine the potential of renewable resources in Cameroon for energy supply. A photovoltaic cell instead of a pyranometer can be employed because of it cost competiveness and the errors will be corrected. The collected data can be a good base for decentralization of the electrical production base choice of microgrids with the main objectives to make the different regions be autonomou

Assessment of renewable energy resources and the use of hydro power for fluctuation compensation in Cameroon

Cameroon is a Sub-Saharan African country, situated in central Africa, located at latitude 6°00 N and longitude 12°00 E, it is crossed by the 10th parallel north of the equatorial plane. The current electricity production is based only on hydro power and more than 95% of the whole electricity production comes from hydroelectricity. There are three separate grids and the transmission grids are completely isolated from one to another and no exchange of available surpluses can be made between the grids. This paper explores the potential of solar and wind energy and how hydro power can contribute for power fluctuation compensation as a key for economical success and better development in Cameroon and in the central African region. Despite great potential, development in the energy sector has been limited and in the country there are permanent energy shortages of electricity supply. A viable and alternative solution can be taking into account the specificities of each region and see which type of renewable resources are available and how the combination of different type of renewable resources can be made in the most appropriate way for energy supply. Work on reliability and cost-effective measurements to determine the potential, the fluctuation rate and the balancing effects of the different sources. In most equatorial African countries, it is difficult to satisfy power demand all year long by hydro sources alone. In some remote areas, where this is the case, a judicious combination with other renewable sources to form a hybrid system can help solve rural electrification problems

Harmony Search Algorithm Based Management of Distributed Energy Resources and Storage Systems in Microgrids

Microgrids are composed of distributed energy resources (DERs), storage devices, electric vehicles, flexible loads and so on. They may either operate connected to the main electricity grid (on-grid operation) or separated from the grid (islanded operation). The outputs of the renewable energy sources may fluctuate and thus can cause deviations in the voltage magnitudes especially at islanded mode. This may affect the stability of the microgrids. This paper proposes an optimization model to efficiently manage controllable devices in microgrids aiming to minimize the voltage deviations both in on-grid and islanded operation modes. RSE Distributed Energy Resources Test Facility (DER-TF), which is a low voltage microgrid system in Italy, is used to verify the algorithm. The test system's data is taken through an online software system (REDIS) and a harmony search based optimization algorithm is applied to control the device parameters. The experimental results show that the harmony search based optimization approach successfully finds the control parameters, and can help the system to obtain a better voltage profile

Plant-parasitic nematodes of potential phytosanitary importance, their main hosts and reported yield losses

The potential phytosanitary importance of all named plant-parasitic nematode species was determined by evaluating available information on species characteristics, association with economically-important crop hosts, and ability to act as vectors of viruses or form disease complexes with other pathogens. Most named species of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) are poorly known, recorded from a single location only, not associated with economically-important crops, and not known to be associated with other plant disease organisms. However, 250 species from 43 genera fulfilled one or more of the criteria to be considered to present a phytosanitary risk. The genera and number of species (in parentheses) considered as posing phytosanitary risk included: Achlysiella (1), Anguina (8), Aphasmatylenchus (1), Aphelenchoides (12), Aphelenchus (1), Belonolaimus (2), Bitylenchus (3), Bursaphelenchus (4), Cactodera (3), Ditylenchus (8), Dolichodorus (1), Globodera (3), Helicotylenchus (7), Hemicriconemoides (3), Hemicycliophora (3), Heterodera (25), Hirschmanniella (5), Hoplolaimus (5), Ibipora (3), Longidorus (10), Macroposthonia (2), Meloidogyne (38), Merlinius (3), Nacobbus (1), Neodolichodorus (2), Paralongidorus (2), Paratrichodorus (11), Paratylenchus (3), Pratylenchus (24), Punctodera (3), Quinisulcius (3), Radopholus (5), Rotylenchulus (3), Rotylenchus (1), Scutellonema (5), Sphaeronema (1), Subanguina (3), Trichodorus (5), Tylenchorhynchus (8), Tylenchulus (2), Vittatidera (1), Xiphinema (15) and Zygotylenchus (1). For each of the 250 species main hosts and yield loss estimates are provided with an extensive bibliography. Of the 250 species, only 126 species from 33 genera are currently listed as regulated pests in one or more countries worldwide. Almost all of these 250 species were also associated with economically important crops and some also acted as vectors for viruses. © 2013 The Authors. Journal compilatio