Business Model Generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers

The book entitled “Business Model Generation: A Handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers” though written by Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) was also co-created by 470 practitioners from 45 countries. The book is thus a good example of how a global creative collaboration effort can contribute positively to the business and management literature and subsequently to the advancement of society. The book "Business Model Generation" has both narrative and visual detail. Before proceeding to do an in-depth review of “Business Model Generation” we first looked at other publications by the authors which led up to the book

Distributed LQG control of a water delivery canal with feedforward from measured consumptions

This work addresses the design of distributed LQG controllers for water delivery canals that include feedforward from local farmer water consumptions. The proposed architecture consists of a network of local control agents, each connected to one of the canal pools and sharing information with their neighbors in order to act in a coordinated way. In order to improve performance, the measurement of the outflows from each pool is used as a feedforward signal. Although the feedforward action is local. It propagates due to the coordinates procedure. The paper presents the distributed LQG algorithm with feedforward and experimental results in a large scale pilot water delivery canal

Producing innovation: Comments on Lee and Yu (2010)

The purpose of the article being reviewed (Lee and Yu, 2010), a survey by questionnaire with 182 valid responses, is to analyze “how different relationship styles of employees in the hi-tech industry influence innovation performance” and indeed its conclusions are that “the relationship style of an organization has a significant positive effect on innovation performance”. We see Lee and Yu (2010) as being similar to another highly cited article by Morgan and Hunt in so far as both articles are about relationships, cooperation and trust

Facilitating qualitative research in business studies - Using the business narrative to model value creation

This is a conceptual paper supported by empirical research giving details of a new Business Narrative Modelling Language (BNML). The need for BNML arose given a growing dissatisfaction with qualitative research approaches and also due to the need to bring entrepreneurs, especially those with little training in management theory, closer to the academic (as well as practitioner) discussion of innovation and strategy for value creation. We aim primarily for an improved communication process of events which can be described using the narrative, in the discussion of the value creation process. Our findings, illustrated through a case study, should be of interest to both researchers and practitioners alike

Inversão de Fluxo em Aparelhos Domésticos de Combustão em Portugal: Estudo Experimental

Os sistemas de ventilação assumem uma grande importância no consumo de energia de climatização e na definição das condições higrotérmicas e da qualidade do ar interior dos edifícios. Entre outras funções, são absolutamente necessários para garantir os níveis de oxigénio necessários aos aparelhos domésticos de combustão. Em Portugal é usual instalar, em edifícios de habitação multifamiliar e com sistemas de ventilação natural, um exaustor mecânico individual em cada cozinha (ventilação descentralizada). Os aparelhos de aquecimento de água para aquecimento ambiente ou para águas quentes sanitárias, do tipo B, não devem ser instalados em locais onde existam exaustores com ventiladores mecânicos. O desrespeito desta incompatibilidade acarreta frequentemente a paragem dos aparelhos a gás em função da inversão do fluxo dos gases de combustão na conduta de exaustão. Neste artigo, avalia-se o impacte do funcionamento do exaustor mecânico no desempenho do aparelho a gás do tipo B normalmente instalado na cozinha. A combinação da ventilação natural ou mecânica na cozinha com a exaustão natural dos produtos de combustão do aparelho a gás foram ensaiadas bem como a avaliação das condições críticas que conduzem à paragem em segurança do aparelho a gás ou à inversão dos produtos da combustão na respetiva conduta de exaustão. Uma das principais conclusões a retirar é que para o caso da exaustão mecânica na cozinha, em simultâneo com a exaustão natural dos produtos de combustão do aparelho a gás, a grelha exterior da cozinha é um dispositivo fundamental para assegurar as condições adequadas para uma boa exaustão dos produtos da combustão e nas situações limite (reduzida admissão de ar por outros meios ou caudais de extração elevados) pode impedir a paragem em segurança do aparelho ou mesmo a inversão dos produtos da combustão. Para este efeito, também deve ser limitado o caudal máximo dos exaustores mecânicos

The influence of ventilation in the work of domestic combustion appliances

In dwellings with collective ventilation systems users often install mechanical exhaust hoods in order to improve the exhaust flow rate. In this research the impact of such devices on the work of the gas water-heater appliance (usually installed in the kitchen) is assessed. Field testing was carried out in order to evaluate the performance of natural ventilation systems in a multi-storey building and its adequacy to provide conditions for the work of the gas waterheater. The combination of mechanical ventilation in hoods and natural exhaust of combustion products of gas water-heater was also tested and critical conditions that lead to the safety stop of the gas water-heater were evaluated. A computer simulation program was used to predict the occurrence of safety problems in the work of the gas water-heater with different mechanical exhaust rates and two different air permeability of the building envelope. It is shown that it is possible to reduce negative impact of mechanical devices increasing the envelope air permeability, but this action will largely increase building heat loss

The influence of ventilation systems on domestic gas appliances: an experimental study

Ventilation systems play an important role in the energy consumption of heating and cooling, defining hygrothermal conditions and air quality of dwellings. Among other functions, they are absolutely necessary to ensure oxygen levels needed for household combustion appliances. In Portugal in multifamily housing and with natural ventilation systems, installing a mechanical exhaust fan in every kitchen (decentralized ventilation) is common. In this paper, the impact of such a device is evaluated regarding the performance of a water heating appliance for heating the indoor environment or for domestic hot water (B-type gas appliance usually installed in the kitchen). The combination of natural or mechanical ventilation in the kitchen with the natural exhaust of the gas appliance’s combustion products were tested as well as the evaluation of critical conditions that lead to stopping the gas appliance safely or to reversing the combustion products in the respective exhaust duct. One of the main conclusions to be drawn is that in the case of mechanical exhaust in the kitchen simultaneously with the natural exhaust of the gas appliance’s combustion products, the kitchen’s exterior air inlet is a key device for ensuring proper exhaust of combustion products. In extreme situations, reduced air intake by other means or high extraction flows, they can prevent safely stopping the appliance or even reversing the flow of the combustion products. For this purpose, the maximum flow of mechanical exhaust should also be limited

Experimental Characterization of Hybrid Ventilation Systems in Residential Buildings

In the recent past, residential buildings in temperate climates were ventilated by the daily opening of windows and by exaggerated window and door permeability. Energy conservation concerns have led to better quality windows and lower air permeability that consequently increased the risk of condensation whilst decreasing indoor air quality. Because of the variation in natural factors, such as wind speed and the stack effect, natural ventilation systems are unlikely to permanently provide ideal ventilation rates. As such, we will characterize the performance of hybrid ventilation systems (air intake through automatically regulated louvers in bedrooms and living rooms, natural exhaust in bathrooms and fan exhaust systems in kitchens) that are a possible solution to this drawback. In March of 2002 and January of 2003, we measured air change rates in a 2-bedroom apartment using the PFT technique. This method has the advantage of measuring air renewal rates in inhabited apartments during a reasonable period and thereby reveals air renewal rates in the dwelling and also in each compartment. This article will demonstrate the results obtained at a standard apartment and will present the experimental study characterising the hybrid ventilation system in a 100-apartment residential complex in the Porto area. The study evaluates the façade’s permeability and the respective air exchange rates per compartment using the PFT and the constant concentration techniques

Qualidade do Ambiente Interior em Edifícios de Habitação

Fazia parte dos hábitos quotidianos dos portugueses a necessidade de abrir janelas para proceder à ventilação dos edifícios. Contudo, as preocupações com os consumos de energia, as alterações do modo de vida das pessoas (as famílias encontram-se ausentes da habitação durante grande parte do dia) e a utilização de caixilharias de melhor qualidade, com menor permeabilidade ao ar, conduziram à diminuição drástica das renovações horárias de ar aumentando o risco de condensações, bem como reduziram a qualidade do ar interior. A humidade é uma das principais causas das patologias dos edifícios e da degradação dos elementos de construção, nomeadamente através dos fenómenos de condensação. Frequentemente as condensações resultam de uma concepção inadequada da envolvente: incorrecto tratamento das pontes térmicas, insuficiente isolamento térmico, ventilação reduzida e não homogénea dos espaços das habitações e aquecimento muitas vezes insuficiente ou inexistente. O ambiente interior dos edifícios é contaminado por substâncias que resultam da utilização corrente desses espaços ou que são emanadas pelos materiais que integram os edifícios (admitindo que o ar exterior não é fonte de poluição). Essas substâncias, dependendo das suas características e da sua concentração, podem ter efeitos sobre o bem-estar dos ocupantes, que vão desde a sensação ligeira de mal-estar, originar doenças graves ou mesmo a morte, como no caso de intoxicações por monóxido de carbono. A publicação da recente regulamentação portuguesa na área da térmica de edifícios e qualidade do ar na qual são definidas condições de referência da temperatura do ar e da humidade relativa, valores mínimos de renovações horárias, coeficientes de transmissão térmica máximos admissíveis dos elementos da envolvente e valores máximos das concentrações de poluentes do ar interior, veio incrementar, por exemplo, os níveis de exigência relativamente ao comportamento higrotérmico da envolvente dos edifícios e as condições de ventilação do ar interior. Pretende-se com este artigo enfatizar que só uma visão integradora da temática em causa - comportamento higrotérmico e qualidade do ar - poderá contribuir para a resolução dos problemas anteriormente referidos

Air permeability measurements of dwellings and building components in Portugal

Ventilation represents a significant part of heat loss in winter, leading to the need to minimize airflow. However, it is absolutely necessary to ensure indoor air quality and the safety of the users and to control the risk of condensation. Ventilation is responsible on average for 30%e40% of energy consumption in air conditioning in Western European buildings. There is great variability in air change rates (ACH [h 1]) from country to country and the minimum value takes into account comfort, sensory and hygrothermal criteria. In Portugal improvements have been made in the air permeability of window frames, but despite the improvements also made in installing mechanical extraction ventilation devices in kitchens and toilets, these often do not guarantee the minimum number of air change rates required. Air permeability tests were recently carried out in five flats with identical construction characteristics, in the same building, with the aim of characterizing the air permeability of buildings and components, in Portugal. These data are particularly useful for improving the design of building components (e.g., windows and roller shutter boxes) and to perform simulations with reliable data