Diseño de un condensador para un loop experimental para probar maniobras de arranque del reactor CAREM.

En este trabajo se diseñó un condensador de vapor sobrecalentado (320°C@2bar) de 78KW que formará parte de un arreglo experimental en el cual se probarán maniobras de arranque del reactor CAREM. Con este objetivo se hizo un estudio de las distintas tecnologías de condensadores existentes en el mercado y se seleccionó el más apropiado para este proyecto. Se encontró que el formato carcasa-tubo de orientación horizontal era el más apropiado. Se efectuó un dimensionamiento termohidráulico del mismo y se realizó posteriormente un diseño mecánico para satisfacer los requerimientos siguiendo las normas TEMA y ASME. Se efectuó el armado de un circuito termohidráulico, empleando un intercambiador carcasa y tubo de la CNEA. Obteniendo experiencia en dicha tarea. Una vez finalizado el proceso de análisis y diseño del condensador, se realizaron los planos de ingeniería básica del mismo empleando un programa de diseño 3D.

Co-digestion of terrestrial plant biomass with marine macro-algae for biogas production

This paper investigates factors affecting anaerobic degradation of marine macro-algae (or seaweed), when used as a co-substrate with terrestrial plant biomass for the production of biogas. Using Laminaria digitata, a brown marine seaweed species and green peas, results showed that when only 2% of feedstock of a reactor treating the green peas at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 2.67 kg VS.m3.day-1 was replaced with the seaweed, methane production was disrupted, whilst acidogenesis, seemed to be less adversely affected, resulting in excessive volatile acids accumulation. Reactor stability was difficult to achieve thereafter. The experiment was repeated with a lower initial OLR of green peas of 0.70 kg VS.m3.day-1 before the addition of the seaweed. Although similar symptoms as in first trial were observed, process stability was restored through the control of OLR and alkalinity. These measures led to an increase in overall OLR of 1.25 kg VS.m3.day-1 comprising of 35% seaweed. This study has shown that certain seaweed constituents are more inhibitory to the methanogens even at trace concentrations than to the other anaerobic digestion microbial groups. Appropriate adaptation strategy, involving initial low proportion of the seaweed relative to the total OLR, and overall low OLR, is necessary to ensure effective adaptation of the microorganisms to the inhibitory constituents of seaweed. Where there is seasonal availability of seaweed, the results of this study suggest that a fresh adaptation or start-up strategy must be implemented during each cycle of seaweed availability in order to ensure sustainable process stability.

Key determinants of organisational silence for non-standard workers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key determinants of organisational silence from the perspective of non-standard workers (NSWs). The study focuses on three research themes: first, analysing the experiences motivating NSWs to remain silent; second, analysing the role of the NSW life cycle in the motivation to remain silent, the final theme is evaluation of the impact on organisational voice of an organisation employing a workforce in which NSWs and standard workers (SWs) are blended. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises a phenomenological approach, as defined by Van Manen (2007), to collect and analyse the phenomenon of organisational silence from the perspective of NSWs. The NSWs are defined as individuals operating via Limited Liability UK registered companies created for the purpose of delivering services to organisations via a contract of services. This study employed a combination of phenomenology and hermeneutics to collect and analyse the data collected from the NSWs using semi-structured interviews (Lindseth and Norberg, 2004). Findings – The study concludes with three core findings. NSWs experience similar motivational factors to silence as experienced by standard workers (SWs). The key differential between a SW and a NSW is the role of defensive silence as a dominant motivator for a start-up NSW. The study identified that the reasons for this is that new NSWs are defensive to protect their reputation for any future contract opportunities. In addition, organisations are utilising the low confidence of new start up NSWs to suppress the ability of NSWs to voice. The research indicates how experienced NSWs use the marketing stage of their life cycle to establish voice mechanisms. The study identified that NSWs, fulfiling management and supervisory roles for organisations, are supporting/creating climates of silence through their transfer of experiences as SWs prior to becoming NSWs. Research limitations/implications – This study is a pilot study, and the findings from this study will be carried forward into a larger scale study through engagement with further participants across a diverse range of sectors. This study has identified that there is a need for further studies on organisational silence and NSWs to analyse more fully the impact of silence on the individuals and the organisation itself. A qualitative phenomenological hermeneutical study is not intended to be extrapolated to provide broad trends. The focus of the phenomenological hermeneutic research methodology is on describing and analysing the richness and depth of the NSW’s experiences of silence in organisational settings. Originality/value – This paper draws together the studies of worker classification, motivators for organisational silence, and the impact of blending SWs and NSWs in an organisational setting. The study demonstrates that academic research to date has focused predominantly on SWs to the exclusion of the 1.5 million, and growing, NSWs in the UK. This study examines these under-represented workers to analyse the participants’ experiences of organisational silence, and its consequences in organisational settings, demonstrating a need for further studies.

Beyond the bottom line: redefining the value of design in SME formation

For SMEs to operate in the complex and globalised economic landscape of today engaging with innovation can sustain competitive advantage. Within Design Management, design is being increasingly posited as a strategic resource to facilitate the absorption of new design resources and leverage design knowledge in ways that support SMEs through such economic pressures. Evidencing the relationship between design and economic performance is complex, leading to extensive current research and industry efforts to show how design adds economic value. Despite the value of such efforts, it is important to recognise that innovation means different things to different organizations, especially for start-ups and SMEs. Within the rising tide of design-led innovation, there is a gap being explored in how design can effectively capture and evaluate its contribution within the complex and diverse situations of business development it engages. In seeking to address this gap, this paper presents findings from research undertaken within Design in Action (DiA), an AHRC-funded knowledge exchange hub. Presenting DiA as a single case study, the paper offers methodical reflection on five case example start-up businesses funded by DiA in order to explore the value that design-led innovation approaches offered in their formation.

Sustainability of Open Access Services: Phase 4 Workshop report

Phase 4: Review of the conditions under which individual services and platforms can be sustained On Tuesday 1 October 2013, in Bristol, United Kingdom, Knowledge Exchange brought together a group of international Open Access Service providers to discuss the sustainability of their services. A number of recurring lessons learned were mentioned; Though project funding can be used to start up a service, it does not guarantee the continuation of a service and it can be hard to establish the service as a viable entity, standing on its own feet. Research funders should be aware that if they have policies or mandates for making research outputs available they will eventually also be responsible for on-going support for the underlying infrastructure. At present some services are used globally but the costs are only covered by a limited geographic spread, sometimes only a number of institutions or only one country. Finding other funding sources can be challenging. Various routes were mentioned including commercial partnerships, memberships, offering additional paid services or using a Freemium model. There is not one model that will fit all. As more services turn to library sponsorship to sustain them, one strategy might be to bundle the requests and approach a group of research and infrastructure funders or institutions (and others) with a package rather than each service going through the same resource consuming process of soliciting funding. This will also allow the community to identify gaps, dependencies and overlap in the services. The possibility of setting up an organisation to bundle the services was discussed and a number of risks were identified.

Experimental and analytical investigation of refrigerant and lubricant migration

The off-cycle refrigerant mass migration has a direct influence on the on-cycle performance since compressor energy is necessary to redistribute the refrigerant mass. No studies, as of today, are available in the open literature which experimentally measured the lubricant migration within a refrigeration system during cycling or stop/start transients. Therefore, experimental procedures measuring the refrigerant and lubricant migration through the major components of a refrigeration system during stop/start transients were developed and implemented. Results identifying the underlying physics are presented. The refrigerant and lubricant migration of an R134a automotive A/C system-utilizing a fixed orifice tube, minichannel condenser, plate and fin evaporator, U-tube type accumulator and fixed displacement compressor-was measured across five sections divided by ball valves. Using the Quick-Closing Valve Technique (QCVT) combined with the Remove and Weigh Technique (RWT) using liquid nitrogen as the condensing agent resulted in a measurement uncertainty of 0.4 percent regarding the total refrigerant mass in the system. The determination of the lubricant mass distribution was achieved by employing three different techniques-Remove and Weigh, Mix and Sample, and Flushing. To employ the Mix and Sample Technique a device-called the Mix and Sample Device-was built. A method to separate the refrigerant and lubricant was developed with an accuracy-after separation-of 0.04 grams of refrigerant left in the lubricant. When applying the three techniques, the total amount of lubricant mass in the system was determined to within two percent. The combination of measurement results-infrared photography and high speed and real time videography-provide unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of refrigerant and lubricant migration during stop-start operation. During the compressor stop period, the primary refrigerant mass migration is caused by, and follows, the diminishing pressure difference across the expansion device. The secondary refrigerant migration is caused by a pressure gradient as a result of thermal nonequilibrium within the system and causes only vapor phase refrigerant migration. Lubricant migration is proportional to the refrigerant mass during the primary refrigerant mass migration. During the secondary refrigerant mass migration lubricant is not migrating. The start-up refrigerant mass migration is caused by an imbalance of the refrigerant mass flow rates across the compressor and expansion device. The higher compressor refrigerant mass flow rate was a result of the entrainment of foam into the U-tube of the accumulator. The lubricant mass migration during the start-up was not proportional to the refrigerant mass migration. The presence of water condensate on the evaporator affected the refrigerant mass migration during the compressor stop period. Caused by an evaporative cooling effect the evaporator held 56 percent of the total refrigerant mass in the system after three minutes of compressor stop time-compared to 25 percent when no water condensate was present on the evaporator coil. Foam entrainment led to a faster lubricant and refrigerant mass migration out of the accumulator than liquid entrainment through the hole at the bottom of the U-tube. The latter was observed for when water condensate was present on the evaporator coil because-as a result of the higher amount of refrigerant mass in the evaporator before start-up-the entrainment of foam into the U-tube of the accumulator ceased before the steady state refrigerant mass distribution was reached.

Dynamic model development of adiabatic compressed air energy storage

The share of variable renewable energy in electricity generation has seen exponential growth during the recent decades, and due to the heightened pursuit of environmental targets, the trend is to continue with increased pace. The two most important resources, wind and insolation both bear the burden of intermittency, creating a need for regulation and posing a threat to grid stability. One possibility to deal with the imbalance between demand and generation is to store electricity temporarily, which was addressed in this thesis by implementing a dynamic model of adiabatic compressed air energy storage (CAES) with Apros dynamic simulation software. Based on literature review, the existing models due to their simplifications were found insufficient for studying transient situations, and despite of its importance, the investigation of part load operation has not yet been possible with satisfactory precision. As a key result of the thesis, the cycle efficiency at design point was simulated to be 58.7%, which correlated well with literature information, and was validated through analytical calculations. The performance at part load was validated against models shown in literature, showing good correlation. By introducing wind resource and electricity demand data to the model, grid operation of CAES was studied. In order to enable the dynamic operation, start-up and shutdown sequences were approximated in dynamic environment, as far as is known, the first time, and a user component for compressor variable guide vanes (VGV) was implemented. Even in the current state, the modularly designed model offers a framework for numerous studies. The validity of the model is limited by the accuracy of VGV correlations at part load, and in addition the implementation of heat losses to the thermal energy storage is necessary to enable longer simulations. More extended use of forecasts is one of the important targets of development, if the system operation is to be optimised in future.

National evaluation of NHS genetics service investments: emerging issues from the cancer genetics pilots

In seeking to fulfil the ambition of the 2003 genetics white paper, Our Inheritance, Our Future, to ‘mainstream’ genetic knowledge and practices, the Department of Health provided start-up funding for pilot services in various clinical areas, including seven cancer genetics projects. To help to understand the challenges encountered by such an attempt at reconfiguring the organization and delivery of services in this field, a programme-level evaluation of the genetics projects was commissioned to consider the organizational issues faced. Using a qualitative approach, this research has involved comparative case-study work in 11 of the pilot sites, including four of the seven cancer genetics pilots. In this paper, the researchers present early findings from their work, focusing in particular on the cancer genetics pilots. They consider some of the factors that have influenced how the pilots have sought to address pre-existing sector, organizational and professional boundaries to these new ways of working. The article examines the relationship between these factors and the extent to which pilots have succeeded in setting up boundary-spanning services, dealing with human-resource issues and creating sustainable, ‘mainstreamed’ provision which attracts ongoing funding in a volatile NHS commissioning environment where funding priorities do not always favour preventive, risk-assessment services.

Factors that influence entrepreneurship activity by gender in the European Union

This research work aims to discuss the gender issue concerning entrepreneurship in European Union countries in a period of nine years, from 2007 to 2015, identifying the factors which drive individuals to be entrepreneurs. The study mainly concentrates on identifying and quantifying the personal, social, political and economic features which are motivating individuals, especially women, to be entrepreneurs, as well as the main difficulties they feel during the process of business creation. In order to explore the entrepreneurial activity across a set of developed countries the econometric methodology of panel data (in particular the fixed effects and random effects models) is applied to a data set of entrepreneurial statistical indicators calculated and made available by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. The results show that the knowledge of other start-up entrepreneurs, a desired career choice, the governmental support and the existence of public policies that promote entrepreneurship (specially within the framework of small and medium sized firms) and the transfer of R&D are factors influencing negatively on the rate of female entrepreneurship. None of the observed variables are barriers for male entrepreneurs. The perceived capabilities and opportunities, the entrepreneurial intention, the policies to lower taxes and bureaucracy and the social and cultural norms are identified drives for women for engaging in a process of running their own ventures. These findings offer a set of valid knowledge to understand which measures could be implemented or should be changed and improved at a political and managerial level for stimulating entrepreneurship, especially for women.

Diseño de modelo curricular para promover la creación de empresas de base tecnológica

Paginas: 18

Internationalization plan of NMusic to Angola

Field lab: Entrepreneurial and innovative ventures

Empreendedorismo nas incubadoras: Reflexões sobre tendências atuais

O empreendedorismo tem sido um tema recorrente nas análises de incubadoras de empresas. O crescimento das incubadoras no Brasil tem se mantido constante desde o final dos anos 1990, mostrando-se um fenômeno relevante para a criação de emprego e renda. Com o objetivo de avaliar o papel das incubadoras na formação empreendedora, tendo em vista a análise feita por McDougall e Alli (2003) sobre o empreendedorismo internacional, este trabalho busca compreender as perspectivas das empresas emergentes para sustentar-se no mercado global. O trabalho está estruturado em quatro seções. A primeira seção apresenta a temática do empreendedorismo e a metodologia adotada para esta análise; a segunda apresenta o referencial teórico, destacando os conceitos de empreendedorismo internacional; a terceira parte descreve o papel das incubadoras a partir de uma análise documental sobre o tema; a quarta parte aponta perspectivas para a formação empreendedora nas incubadoras de empresas.

Plano de comunicação integrada de marketing para a empresa Extra Time Solutions, Lda

Mestrado em Marketing

Implementación de una fábrica de postes de hormigón armado basada en la creación de valores

Se considera a los postes de hormigón armado un elemento indispensable para la distribución de energía eléctrica, también son parte de nuestro ornamento. Como breve reseñapuedo indicar que la idea del negocio nació, para satisfacer la necesidad de encontrar una fábrica de postes de hormigón que cuente con stock y con entrega oportuna a los clientes ubicados en la zona Austral.Al existir una sola fábrica se generó una escasez del producto, para cubrir la demanda se debe buscar en otras ciudades, lo que encarece el precio del producto debido al incremento del costo del transporte, además seproduce retraso en la construcción de las obras eléctricas. Con este proyecto se analizó la factibilidad de instalaruna fábrica de postes de hormigón armado, se cuantificó la inversión que demandaráempezar la producción y venta de los productos. Se comercializará postes de 10 y 12 metros de longitud, debido a que son los más utilizados en las empresas eléctricas, telefonía, internet y tv cable.

Strategie di calcolo tra studenti discalculici e non

Sono stati analizzati i circuiti neurali addetti all'elaborazione matematica, a partire da quelli di start-up neurocognitivo per l'apprendimento del numero e del calcolo, capacità innate e già presenti alla nascita. I protagonisti sono il sistema della stima approssimativa del numero e quello di individuazione degli oggetti multipli e, spesso, le difficoltà che si incontrano durante un compito matematico (o la lentezza per portarlo a termine) sono date dalla difficile interazione tra questi e le loro sottocomponenti, continuamente riprogrammate dall'esecutivo centrale per poter supervisionare i processi di problem solving. Per la costruzione e lo sviluppo del calcolo più elevato, occorrono alcune capacità di base come il concetto di corrispondenza biunivoca, quello di ordinamento di un insieme, di maggioranza, di raddoppio e di dimezzamento, per mezzo delle quali ogni procedura si può ridurre ad una serie di operazioni più semplici. Queste funzioni vengono controllate e coordinate dal Sistema Attentivo Esecutivo che presiede tutte le attività di problem solving. I ragazzi che presentano deficit altamente specifici in una o più abilità matematiche di base vengono definiti discalculici e tra i loro tratti caratteristici vi sono l'incapacità di comprendere le numerosità, i principi delle operazioni e di elaborare strategie risolutive adatte ad ogni esercizio. Non tutti i ragazzi che presentano difficoltà in matematica sono discalculici: a tal proposito ho svolto una sperimentazione didattica in 10 classi di un I.T.I.S. , per cercare di capire se i concetti reputati consolidati alla scuola secondaria di 1° grado, lo sono realmente in quella di 2° e per mostrare le diverse tipologie di errori compiuti dai ragazzi clinici e non. I risultati sono stati largamente al di sotto delle aspettative, anche negli esercizi in cui è stato permesso l'uso della calcolatrice, lasciandomi presagire che gli errori commessi siano perlopiù di concetto piuttosto che di calcolo.