Sustainability and Fashion Brands a Pact for Eco-Luxury

The fashion industry is becoming increasingly more important in world economies. Not for nothing is it one of the industries that, despite the crisis, has continued to grow and generate profits. Natural resources are becoming scarce and those brands whose manufacturing processes do not comply with sustainability standards are now being penalized, a state of affairs that not only concerns fashion, but also any other business environment. Sustainability is the sum of environmental and social benefits that enhance global welfare. Moreover, eco-luxury is being advanced as one of the most novel trends in fashion consumption and as a balance between economic return and social awareness. The aim of this study is to show, on the basis of a real project for creating a communication agency specializing in fashion, that entrepreneurs and brands are investing in sustainability and that eco-luxury has become a corporate hallmark. Contextually speaking, this research includes a content analysis of the leading communication agencies in Spain, in order to identify the keys to entrepreneurship and to respond to the current needs of fashion brands and green consumers. The findings not only point to a renovation of materials, resources, and creation and manufacturing processes, but above all reveal changes in business behaviour as regards the way of communicating sustainability and highlighting it as an exclusive, luxury trend, both factors inherent to fashion consumption

Benefits of Medium Temperature Solar Concentration Technologies as Thermal Energy Source of Industrial Processes in Spain

This paper analyses the possible applications of medium temperature solar concentration technologies, Compound Parabolic Collector, Linear Fresnel Collector and Parabolic Trough Collector in the Spanish industrial sector. Results of this study allow evaluating whether or not solar technologies are an alternative to conventional sources. This possibility is analyzed energetically, economically and environmentally. Results show that the percentage of solar use is decisive in determining the true thermal energy generation cost. The other essential parameter is the solar field area due to produce economy of scale that reduces investment costs. Fluid temperature has significant influence mainly in Compound Parabolic Collector technology. Results obtained in this paper collect multiple alternatives and allow comparing for different scenarios the suitability to replace conventional energy sources by thermal energy obtained from medium temperature solar concentration technologies from an economic perspective. For instance, for percentage of solar use equal to 100%, the lowest thermal energy generation costs for each technology are 1.3 c /kWh for Compound Parabolic Collector technology, fluid temperature of 100º C and industrial process located in Seville, 2.4 c /kWh for Linear Fresnel Collector technology, fluid temperature of 170º C and industrial process located in Jaen, 3.3 c /kWh for technology, fluid temperature of 350º C and industrial process located in Jaen. These costs are lower than conventional energy sources costsPlataforma Tecnológica Solar Concentra ES-130

Conditions in which a photovoltaic system is more viable than a low-temperature solar thermal system.

Permiso para subir el documento obtenido por la instituciónPhotovoltaic (PV) and low-temperature solar thermal (LT-STH) are the most widely used technologies in the building sector. This study determines, depending on the most influential parameters, the conditions in which a PV system is more beneficial than a LT-STH system from an economical, energetic and environmental point of view. The parameter used for economically evaluated both technologies is the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Moreover the Greenhouse Gas Emissions factor is employed for an environmental evaluation. The main results shown on this study reveal that in most cases PV is economically and environmentally more viable than LT-STH, although it would be necessary to analyze the particular conditions of each site

Process Heat Generation Potential from Solar Concentration Technologies in Latin America: The Case of Argentina

This paper evaluates the potential of solar concentration technologies—compound parabolic collector (CPC), linear Fresnel collector (LFC) and parabolic trough collector (PTC)—as an alternative to conventional sources of energy for industrial processes in Latin America, where high levels of solar radiation and isolated areas without energy supply exist. The analysis is addressed from energy, economic and environmental perspective. A specific application for Argentina in which fourteen locations are analyzed is considered. Results show that solar concentration technologies can be an economically and environmentally viable alternative. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) ranges between 2.5 and 16.9 c /kWh/m2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions avoided range between 33 and 348 kgCO2/(m2 year). CPC technology stands out as the most recommendable technology when the working fluid temperature ranges from 373 K to 423 K. As the working fluid temperature increases the differences between the LCOE values of the CPC and LFC technologies decrease. When 523 K is reached LFC technology is the one which presents the lowest LCOE values for all analyzed sites, while the LCOE values of PTC technology are close to CPC technology values. Results show that solar concentration technologies have reached economic and environmental competitiveness levels under certain scenarios, mainly linked to solar resource available, thermal level requirements and solar technology cos

Benefits of introducing Picture books through ICTs in Bilingual Settings: An example with Cuadernia and Press Here by Herve Tullet

Picture books which were implemented through Wanga Gag’s Millions of Cats have been proven to be an excellent resource because images opposed to words have a leading role. This resource also becomes a perfect ally for digital natives who are appealed to images and with the use of ICT tools turns it into a more appealing and engaging experience.The picture book titled Press Here by Herve Tullet has been used to work the 4Cs of CLIL (Content, Culture, Communication and Cognition) through non-linguistic subjects (Art, Math and Music). Cuadernia due to its flexibility and easiness it is the most suitable ICT tool to introduce a picture book through CLIL methodology at early stages. Different tasks to work Art like the result of mixing primary colors or a video to consolidate the shape of a circle help students to activate their prior knowledge in a visual way. Math was also introduced through Cuadernia with the aim to learn counting until 5 through bottle caps and associated to colors. Lastly, Music together with the shape of the circles was displayed showing finger paint. For all the previously stated ideas, it is highly recommended to use a software like Cuadernia to work any picture book through bilingual methodology because it will broaden students’ knowledge and allow them to practice in a more dynamic and attractive environment.Los álbumes ilustrados fueron implementados a partir de la obra Millions of Cats de Wanga Gag y han resultado ser un excelente recurso porque las imágenes, en contraposición a las palabras, tienen un papel primordial. Este recurso se convierte en el aliado perfecto para los nativos digitales quienes se sienten atraídos por las imágenes que junto con las TIC lo convierten en una experiencia más atractiva y motiva-dora. El álbum ilustrado Press Here de Herve Tullet se ha empleado para trabajar las 4 C de AICLE (Contenido, Cultura, Comunicación y Cognición) a través de materias no lingüísticas (arte, matemáticas y música). Cuadernia por su flexibildiad y facilidad es la herramienta más adecuada para introducer el álbum ilus-trado a través de la metodología AICLE a edades tempranas. Se han llevado a cabo diferentes activida-des para trabajar el arte como resultado de la mezcla de los colores primarios o el video, consolidando la forma del círculo que ayudará a los alumnos a activar su conocimiento previo de forma visual. Las matemáticas también se introducen a partir de Cuadernia con el propósito de aprender a contar hasta 5 a partir de los tapones de las botellas de plástico asociadas a los colores. Por último, la música junto con la forma de los círculos se muestra a partir de la pintura de dedos. Por todas las ideas expuestas con anterioridad, es altamente recomendable emplear el software Cuadernia para trabajar cualquier álbum ilustrado a través de la metodología bilingüe porque ampliará el conocimiento de los alumnos y les per-mitirá practicar en un entorno más dinámico y atractivo

Factores socioeconómicos relacionados con la deserción estudiantil en el CETPRO “Piloto Femenino de Lima”, jurisdicción de la de la UGEL Nº 03 del distrito del Cercado de Lima 2014

El objetivo del presente trabajo de investigación estuvo dirigido a investigar los factores socioeconómicos relacionados con la deserción estudiantil en el CETPRO “Piloto Femenino de Lima”, jurisdicción de la UGEL Nº 03 del distrito del Cercado de Lima 2014. Este estudio realizado corresponde al tipo de básica “Descriptiva” porque nos permitió describir los factores socioeconómicos relacionados a la deserción estudiantil. Tal es así que, mediante el análisis del enfoque cualitativo nos permitió establecer la relación entre los factores socioeconómicos con la deserción estudiantil en el CETPRO “Piloto Femenino de Lima”, jurisdicción de la UGEL Nº 03 del distrito del Cercado de Lima 2014. Se trabajó con una muestra de 289 estudiantes del CETPRO “Piloto Femenino de Lima”, jurisdicción de la UGEL Nº 03 del distrito del Cercado de Lima. Para la recopilación de datos se empleó la encuesta y el censo escolar 2014. Los resultados indican que los factores socioeconómicos tienen una gran relevancia con la deserción estudiantil en los estudiantes del CETPRO “Piloto Femenino de Lima”, jurisdicción de la UGEL Nº 03 del distrito del Cercado de Lima

Comparison of the representativeness of solar radiation type of days from the viewpoint of the production of parabolic trough and central receiver plants

SOLARPACES 2020: 26th International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems 28 September–2 October 2020 Freiburg, GermanyThe classification of days according to the solar radiation features is one of the tools frequently used for the solar resource assessment, modelling or forecasting. Recent studies discuss the appropriate classification method or number of types of days, but these studies usually don’t take into account, at least in an explicit way, the relation between the types of days and the yield of solar plants. In this work, we compare the representativeness of the types of days defined by two classification methods from the viewpoint of the production of a Central Receiver (CR) and a Parabolic Trough (PT) solar plant. The selected classification methods are based on the daily solar radiation features: energy, variability and temporal distribution. So, in a first step, the days of a period of 16 years of measurements recorded in Seville (Spain) are classified by these two methods. In a second step, the daily gross productions of both CSP plants are estimated using System Advisor Model program. Then, the representativeness of the types of days of each classification method is evaluated according to the production of the CR and the PT plant by means of a methodology based on the clear sky yield index or kp index. Finally, the ARE and the annual relative RMSE and the MAE for the plants and classification methods analyzed are compared. Then, we can conclude, that the representativeness of the types of days of a classification method has a certain dependence on the plant that depends on the classification method applied

Assessment of a Global-to-Direct empirical model for the long-term characterization of Direct Normal Insolation

The statistical characterization of the solar resource (direct normal solar radiation) is a key point in the initial phases of a solar thermal electricity (STE) plant project. Ideally, this characterization should be based on long time series (at least 8 years) of on-site measured data of Direct Normal Insolation (DNI) and other meteorological parameters. Unfortunately, there are very few places around the world where such time series are available, so alternative methods have to be used. Most of them rely on the application of global-to-direct conversion models to long time series of Global Horizontal Insolation (GHI), measured or derived from satellite images, to estimate the long-term resource. Usually, a meteorological station including sensors for the measurement of DNI is installed at the selected project site at the beginning of the project. The data collected during the measurement campaign, which normally extends between a few months and 2 years, are used to adjust the conversion models and to correct the estimates. In this paper, a simple empirical model that relates monthly clearness index and monthly direct normal fraction is used to estimate monthly and annual long-term DNI from statistically representative monthly values of GHI. This model is adjusted with GHI and DNI data collected during measurement campaigns of different durations. We show that the accuracy of the proposed model is under +-5% and that this accuracy improves sharply with the duration of the test campaign. For this purpose, we have used 13 years of high quality DNI and GHI data from the radiometric station of the Group of Thermodynamics and Renewable Energies (GTER) of the University of Seville, Spain. The results suggest that, this simple empirical model is a good alternative to the present methodologies when short DNI measurement campaign but long-term GHI values are available

Fixed-point Processing for an IR Positioning System based on QADA Receivers

2022 IEEE 12th International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN), 5-8 September, 2022, Beijing, China.Indoor optical positioning systems have increased in popularity in recent years because they can provide centimeter accuracy in three dimensions (3D) utilizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photoreceptors. This work presents the design of a positioning system, which is based on a set of four photoreceptors functioning as beacons at known places for a single LED to be positioned. However, it might be extended to additional emitters with some medium access control. The associated processing is explained, as well as the basic assumptions to be addressed when approaching its hardware implementation, such as the preliminary partitioning of tasks between hardware and software, and the fixed-point representation of the processing to be implemented in hardware. The system has been validated by simulation in a 2 × 2 × 3.4 m3 volume, yielding mean absolute errors around 0.004 m for the X and Y axes, and around 0.01 m for the Z-axis, as well as lower standard deviations than 0.004 m for the X and Y axes and 0.01 m for the Z-axis.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónUniversidad de Alcal

Detecting relative amplitude of IR signals with active sensors and its application to a positioning system

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in smart systems, e.g., smart metering or smart spaces, for which active sensing plays an important role. In such systems, the sample or environment to be measured is irradiated with a signal (acoustic, infrared, radio‐frequency…) and some of their features are determined from the transmitted or reflected part of the original signal. In this work, infrared (IR) signals are emitted from different sources (four in this case) and received by a unique quadrature angular diversity aperture (QADA) sensor. A code division multiple access (CDMA) technique is used to deal with the simultaneous transmission of all the signals and their separation (depending on the source) at the receiver’s processing stage. Furthermore, the use of correlation techniques allows the receiver to determine the amount of energy received from each transmitter, by quantifying the main correlation peaks. This technique can be used in any system requiring active sensing; in the particular case of the IR positioning system presented here, the relative amplitudes of those peaks are used to determine the central incidence point of the light from each emitter on the QADA. The proposal tackles the typical phenomena, such as distortions caused by the transducer impulse response, the near‐far effect in CDMA‐based systems, multipath transmissions, the correlation degradation from non‐coherent demodulations, etc. Finally, for each emitter, the angle of incidence on the QADA receiveris estimated, assuming that it is on a horizontal plane, although with any rotation on the vertical axis Z. With the estimated angles and the known positions of the LED emitters, the position (x, y, z) of the receiver is determined. The system is validated at different positions in a volume of 3 × 3 × 3.4 m3 obtaining average errors of 7.1, 5.4, and 47.3 cm in the X, Y and Z axes, respectively.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónUniversidad de AlcaláJunta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Manch