Browsing by Author "Fernandes, L."
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- Evaluation of the human factor in the scheduling of smart appliances in smart gridsPublication . Monteiro, J. M.; Cardoso, Pedro J. S.; Serra, R.; Fernandes, L.Recently there has been an increase of interest in implementing a new set of home appliances, known as Smart Appliances that integrate Information Technologies, the Internet of Things and the ability of communicating with other devices. While Smart Appliances are characterized as an important milestone on the path to the Smart Grid, by being able to automatically schedule their loads according to a tariff or reflecting the power that is generated using renewable sources, there is not a clear understanding on the impact that the behavior of such devices will have in the comfort levels of users, when they shift their working periods to earlier, or later than, a preset time. Given these considerations, in this work we analyse the results of an assessment survey carried out to a group of Home Appliance users regarding their habits when dealing with these machines and the subjective impact in quality caused by either finishing its programs before or after the time limit set by the user. The results of this work are expected to be used as input for the evaluation of load scheduling algorithms running in energy management systems. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.
- Interaction between innovation in small firms and their environments: modelling entrepreneurial patternsPublication . Noronha, Teresa de; Cesário, M.; Fernandes, L.Small food firms make up an important sector in the European economy and are particularly significant in rural areas where they are potential sources of employment and growth. Despite this, their behaviour as regards innovation has been relatively little studied to date. This exploratory investigation finds different types of innovative behaviours among small agro-food firms in peripheral regions and identifies some of the factors with which they are associated. The research reported here is based on a sample of 323 small and very small food and drink (hereafter “food”) firms drawn from 11 regions in six European countries. The food industry is generally regarded as a mature, low-technology industry, but this study identifies different clusters of small food firms according to innovative behaviours. It finds that, although a substantial number of firms may be defined as non-innovators, by far the largest cluster of food firms is involved in multiple forms of innovative activity. Recent studies have demonstrated the complexity of the determinants of technological progress. This may be modelled as a learning process in which small innovative firms tend to draw on internal and external sources of expertise and are both influenced by and influence the broader socio-economic environment in which they operate. This study uses cluster analyses to identify four types of innovative behaviours and examines the factors influencing these. It takes first steps to incorporate both measures of innovative capacity at the firm level as well as of the local development environment in order to explore links between the innovative capacity of small food firms and the characteristics of their regional contexts.