TechFrame's internationalization plan: Next stop UK

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsThe work developed consists on an internationalization strategic plan of measures and recommendations that aim to support TechFrame’s entrance in the British market. TechFrame is a Portuguese SME company that develops and commercializes IT products. Currently Darwin is its only product and consists of a software that supports the management of Industrial Property Rights (IPRs) 1 - patents, trademarks and designs -. The growing importance of IPRs derives from the high intrinsic value to their owners. Their management must comply with rigorous formal legal procedures, processes and requirements. The loss or the mistaken management of IPRs can severely damage the owning company’s business and operation, since they represent important company’s assets. Following the achievement of a dominant position in the Portuguese market, with nearly 70% of market share (in terms of Official IP Agent offices), TechFrame started a committed internationalization process through key European markets, after having expanded its product to non-key markets namely Angola, Mozambique, Macau and Austria. The first step was the opening of a local office in the Spanish market (in 2008) - having nowadays around 5% of market share with 80 licenses sold -. TechFrame currently desires to enter the French, Italian and British markets. One can say that TechFrame’s “corporate strategy should not be a once-and-for-all choice but a vision that can evolve”2 (Porter, 1998). The British market is a key IP (Industrial Property) market in Europe, with a big dimension not only in terms of IP registered but also in terms of agents operating in this industry and supporting industries. In this market Darwin will face a strong competition in a developed market with many international IT (Information Technology) suppliers of IP management solutions. The strategic plan I have developed aims to effectively contribute to TechFrame, consisting on a relevant and credible tool able to support TechFrame’s internationalization planning and decision making

Emerging technologies and future trends in substation automation systems for the protection, monitoring and control of electrical substations

Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Automação). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

“BalSim”: A Carbon, Nitrogen and Greenhouse Gas Mass Balance Model for Pastures

Animal production systems are increasingly required to co-produce meat products and other ecosystem services. Sown biodiverse pastures (SBP) were developed in Portugal as an improvement over semi-natural pastures (SNP). SBP increase yields and animal intake during grazing, are substantial carbon sinks, and the abundance of legumes in the mixtures provides plants with a biological source of nitrogen. However, the data available and the data demands of most models make integrated modelling of these effects difficult. Here, we developed “BalSim”, a mass balance approach for the estimation of carbon and nitrogen flows and the direct greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of the two production systems. Results show that, on average, the on-farm GHG balance is 2.6 and 0.8 t CO2e/ha.yr for SBP and SNP, respectively. Ignoring the effects of carbon sequestration, and taking into account only non-CO2 emissions, the systems are responsible for 17.0 and 16.3 kg CO2e/kg live weight.yr. The annual analysis showed that non-CO2 emissions were highest in a drought year due to decreased yield and stocking rate. We also showed through scenario analysis that matching the grazing level to the yield is crucial to minimize emissions and ensure reduced feed supplementation while maintaining high soil carbon stocks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Race level comparison and variability analysis of 100 m freestyle sprinters competing in the 2019 European championships

This study aimed to (i) compare the race performance of the swimmers with better performances and poorer performances during all sections of a 100 m freestyle event and (ii) compare stroke kinematics variables between tiers and analyse their stability in each tier. The sample was composed of 88 swimmers that participated in the 100 m Freestyle event at the 2019 LEN European Junior Championships. Speed achieved the largest difference between tiers in section (S) S0-15 m of lap #1 (mean difference = -0.109 s, p < 0.001). During the clean swim and finish phases, the stroke length and stroke index presented significant differences (p < 0.05) between tiers in all sections of the race (stroke frequency did not). Significant variances were noted for both tiers in all variables in both laps. Swimmers in tier #1 were significantly faster than swimmers in tier #2 especially in sections related to the push-off against a solid (block or wall), and finish. A significant variance was noted by both tiers during the race with a moderate-to-high normative stability. Coaches are advised to analyse and understand the swimmers' within-lap stability, which can give deeper details about their swimmers' behaviour during the 100 m freestyle race.This work was supported by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia [UIDB/DTP/04045/2020]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Strategic bidding in electricity markets: An agent-based simulator with game theory for scenario analysis

Electricity markets are complex environments, involving a large number of different entities, with specific characteristics and objectives, making their decisions and interacting in a dynamic scene. Game-theory has been widely used to support decisions in competitive environments; therefore its application in electricity markets can prove to be a high potential tool. This paper proposes a new scenario analysis algorithm, which includes the application of game-theory, to evaluate and preview different scenarios and provide players with the ability to strategically react in order to exhibit the behavior that better fits their objectives. This model includes forecasts of competitor players’ actions, to build models of their behavior, in order to define the most probable expected scenarios. Once the scenarios are defined, game theory is applied to support the choice of the action to be performed. Our use of game theory is intended for supporting one specific agent and not for achieving the equilibrium in the market. MASCEM (Multi-Agent System for Competitive Electricity Markets) is a multi-agent electricity market simulator that models market players and simulates their operation in the market. The scenario analysis algorithm has been tested within MASCEM and our experimental findings with a case study based on real data from the Iberian Electricity Market are presented and discussed

Energy and Reserve under Distributed Energy Resources Management-Day-Ahead, Hour-Ahead and Real-Time

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources based on renewable energy sources in distribution systems leads to a more complex management of power systems. Consequently, ancillary services become even more important to maintain the system security and reliability. This paper proposes and evaluates a generic model for day-ahead, intraday (hour-ahead) and real-time scheduling, considering the joint optimization of energy and reserve in the scope of the virtual power player concept. The model aims to minimize the operation costs in the point of view of one aggregator agent taking into account the balance of the distribution system. For each scheduling stage, previous scheduling results and updated forecasts are considered. An illustrative test case of a distribution network with 33 buses, considering a large penetration of distribution energy resources allows demonstrating the benefits of the proposed model

Simulated Annealing Approach Applied to the Energy Resource Management Considering Demand Response for Electric Vehicles

The aggregation and management of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) by an Virtual Power Players (VPP) is an important task in a smart grid context. The Energy Resource Management (ERM) of theses DERs can become a hard and complex optimization problem. The large integration of several DERs, including Electric Vehicles (EVs), may lead to a scenario in which the VPP needs several hours to have a solution for the ERM problem. This is the reason why it is necessary to use metaheuristic methodologies to come up with a good solution with a reasonable amount of time. The presented paper proposes a Simulated Annealing (SA) approach to determine the ERM considering an intensive use of DERs, mainly EVs. In this paper, the possibility to apply Demand Response (DR) programs to the EVs is considered. Moreover, a trip reduce DR program is implemented. The SA methodology is tested on a 32-bus distribution network with 2000 EVs, and the SA results are compared with a deterministic technique and particle swarm optimization results

Energy resource scheduling considering reactive power management

The reactive power management is an important task in future power systems. The control of reactive power allows the increase of distributed energy resources penetration as well as the optimal operation of distribution networks. Currently, the control of reactive power is only controlled in large power units and in high and very high voltage substations. In this paper a reactive power control in smart grids paradigm is proposed, considering the management of distributed energy resources and of the distribution network by an aggregator namely Virtual Power Player (VPP)