Multi-level, Multi-stage and Stochastic Optimization Models for Energy Conservation in Buildings for Federal, State and Local Agencies

Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) project selection is made difficult given real-world constraints, limited resources to implement savings retrofits, various suppliers in the market and project financing alternatives. Many of these energy efficient retrofit projects should be viewed as a series of investments with annual returns for these traditionally risk-averse agencies. Given a list of ECMs available, federal, state and local agencies must determine how to implement projects at lowest costs. The most common methods of implementation planning are suboptimal relative to cost. Federal, state and local agencies can obtain greater returns on their energy conservation investment over traditional methods, regardless of the implementing organization. This dissertation outlines several approaches to improve the traditional energy conservations models. Any public buildings in regions with similar energy conservation goals in the United States or internationally can also benefit greatly from this research. Additionally, many private owners of buildings are under mandates to conserve energy e.g., Local Law 85 of the New York City Energy Conservation Code requires any building, public or private, to meet the most current energy code for any alteration or renovation. Thus, both public and private stakeholders can benefit from this research. The research in this dissertation advances and presents models that decision-makers can use to optimize the selection of ECM projects with respect to the total cost of implementation. A practical application of a two-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) improves the current best practice for agencies concerned with making the most cost-effective selection leveraging energy services companies or utilities. The two-level model maximizes savings to the agency and profit to the energy services companies (Chapter 2). An additional model presented leverages a single congressional appropriation to implement ECM projects (Chapter 3). Returns from implemented ECM projects are used to fund additional ECM projects. In these cases, fluctuations in energy costs and uncertainty in the estimated savings severely influence ECM project selection and the amount of the appropriation requested. A risk aversion method proposed imposes a minimum on the number of “of projects completed in each stage. A comparative method using Conditional Value at Risk is analyzed. Time consistency was addressed in this chapter. This work demonstrates how a risk-based, stochastic, multi-stage model with binary decision variables at each stage provides a much more accurate estimate for planning than the agency’s traditional approach and deterministic models. Finally, in Chapter 4, a rolling-horizon model allows for subadditivity and superadditivity of the energy savings to simulate interactive effects between ECM projects. The approach makes use of inequalities (McCormick, 1976) to re-express constraints that involve the product of binary variables with an exact linearization (related to the convex hull of those constraints). This model additionally shows the benefits of learning between stages while remaining consistent with the single congressional appropriations framework.

The reality of cross-disciplinary energy research in the United Kingdom:a social science perspective

Cross-disciplinary research is essential in understanding and reducing energy usage, however the reality of this collaboration comes with many challenges. This paper provides an insight into the integration of social science in energy research, drawing on the expertise and first hand experiences of a range of social science researchers (predominantly Early Career Researchers (ECRs)) working on UK cross-disciplinary projects in energy demand. These researchers, participants in a workshop dedicated to understanding the integration of social science in energy research, identified four groups of challenges to successful integration: Differing expectations of the role of social scientists; Working within academia; Feeling like a valued member of the team; and Communicating and comprehension between disciplines. Suggestions of how to negotiate those challenges included: Management and planning; Increasing contact; Sharing experience; and Understanding team roles. The paper offers a definition of ‘success’ in cross-disciplinary energy research from the perspective of social science ECRs, comprising external, internal and personal components. Using the logics of interdisciplinarity, this paper suggests that integration of the social sciences in the projects discussed may be partial at best and highlights a need to recognise the challenges ECRs face, in order to achieve full integration and equality of disciplines.

Management of industrialization projects

Short time-to-market is a key success factor in the todays’ dynamic business environment and many companies are trying to improve their product development processes. A challenge is to develop products according to the time plan and at the same time keeping the cost low and the quality high. This study focuses on the project management within the product development process in an automotive industry. The background of this study started as a request from the research and development department at the automotive company, which led to the following questions; 1) what are the most crucial factors for project success? 2) How can these factors contribute to a more successful outcome? 3) How can project management decrease product development lead time by sharing knowledge? The research approach is a case study and the data collection consist of interviews and questioners at two companies connected to project management in product development projects. Spider charts are created from the collected data containing eleven dimensions to show similarities and differences between the project managers working within the research and development department as well as between the two companies. The main conclusions are that there is a need to allow a certain level of flexibility when managing projects, in order to more easily handle late changes. Being involved in a project from the concept phase could facilitate the product development activities later on, due to a deeper understanding regarding previous decisions. Further, knowledge sharing methods, such as databases, has to be designed to be suitable for a specific organization and user friendly which enables the users to more easily search for specific types of knowledge. Lastly, a low level on the detailed focus is shown to be another success factor, however, in some cases there is still a need of this detailed focus to solve specific problems but the details may never become a higher focus than the holistic view.

Sustainable forest management for smallholder farmers in the Brazilian Amazon.

The paper describes a forest management system to be applied on smallholder farms, particularly on settlement projects in the Brazilian Amazon. The proposed forest management system was designed to generate a new source of family income and to maintain forest structure and biodiversity. The system is new in three main characteristics: the use of short cycles in the management of tropical forests, the low harvesting intensity and environmental impact, and the direct involvement of the local population in ali forest management activities. It is based on a minimum felling cycle of ten years and an annual timber harvest of 5-10 m3 ha-1.

The role of networked learning in academics’ writing

This article explores academics’ writing practices, focusing on the ways in which they use digital platforms in their processes of collaborative learning. It draws on interview data from a research project that has involved working closely with academics across different disciplines and institutions to explore their writing practices, understanding academic literacies as situated social practices. The article outlines the characteristics of academics’ ongoing professional learning, demonstrating the importance of collaborations on specific projects in generating learning in relation to using digital platforms and for sharing and collaborating on scholarly writing. A very wide range of digital platforms have been identified by these academics, enabling new kinds of collaboration across time and space on writing and research; but challenges around online learning are also identified, particularly the dangers of engaging in learning in public, the pressures of ‘always-on’-ness and the different values systems around publishing in different forums.

Il progetto dello spazio pubblico al tempo del trust. Metodi e progetti in contesti urbani e periferici

Lo spazio pubblico urbano potrebbe essere visto come una scenografia mutevole in cui la società rappresenta sé stessa. Soprattutto nei centri storici della città, si perde l’identità di luoghi specifici, così come la coscienza dei cittadini, che porta ad un uso improprio dello spazio causato principalmente dall’assenza di una cultura architettonica. In questo senso, l’obiettivo finale dell’architettura è quello di essere educativa nello spiegare il motivo per cui è stata concepita. La tesi di ricerca tenta di studiare la dimensione educativa e la forza che l’architettura ha nell’influenzare comportamenti spontanei e non spontanei. L’obiettivo è trovare metodi di progettazione e legali in grado di migliorare gli spazi pubblici in termini di qualità della vita dei suoi utenti. Il riconoscimento e la trasmissione dell’architettura, attraverso l’uso dell’architettura stessa, tenta di arginare un’assenza di cultura architettonica e un uso sempre più improprio dei suoi spazi. La domanda a cui, dunque, si tenta di rispondere è: Può la dimensione evocativa dell’architettura stimolare processi di rigenerazione urbana? La tesi si sviluppa in tre parti: la prima presenta alcune riflessioni teoriche sulla progettazione dello spazio pubblico alle quali fanno riferimento altrettanti progetti portati avanti nei mesi di ricerca Dai workshops realizzati sono emerse diverse problematiche riguardo l’effettiva realizzazione di tali progetti evidenziando soprattutto una carenza di tipo normativo che fa “cadere” gli entusiasmi legati al completamento delle opere per la comunità e di conseguenza decade il valore teorico dei progetti. Per questo motivo, nella seconda parte, si tenta di approfondire il tema legislativo per trovare soluzioni alternative agli arresti burocratici che sovente disincentivano le azioni corali della cittadinanza. La terza parte si concentrerà su un progetto per un’area di Bologna da riqualificare, i Prati di Caprara, per i quali si sfrutteranno tutte le conoscenze teoriche precedentemente esposte.

Investing for impact. An exploration of impact investments in rural Ghana

This thesis offers an exploration of impact and social investments for agricultural development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. It does so through the case of SustAgric-Africa (SAA), a social enterprise that aims to lift smallholder farmers out of poverty through the promotion of sustainable farming and operates with capital provided by a variety of investors who are committed to pairing financial returns with social and environmental outcomes. The thesis sets off to answer the following research questions: What is the moral dimension that emerges in finance with the establishment of environmental and social criteria? What kind of arrangements do social and impact investments give origin to? Is it possible to talk about a ‘spirit of the gift’ in such arrangements? What happens when abstract and globalizing ideas around ‘impact’ hit the ground? Drawing from the STS and Actor-Network Theory, I look at the formation engendered by social and impact investments in terms of a socio-technical arrangement, and look at the movements of “objects” between the main actors in terms of circuits. In these processes ideas about ‘value’ and ‘values’ articulate in complex ways in the interplay of gift, debt and credit in the relationships among the three main categories of involved actors: investors, SAA, and the farmers. In the case of SAA, I contend that the ways abstract and globalising ideas about ‘impact’ hit the ground produce uncertain results and contribute to the reproduction of inequalities and unequal wealth distribution and accumulation, deepening ongoing processes of financialization. However, my ethnography also reveals how actors depicted as beneficiaries of impact and social policies and resources, far from being passive recipients of policies and resources, actually question and appropriate them, potentially unsettling the whole arrangement and the moral and ethical claims underpinning it.

Towards Europe 2050: the role of institutions, EU research, and citizens for climate justice. The urban challenge in Amsterdam, Bilbao, Freiburg, and Lisbon.

The climate crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced, and in 2023 the average global temperature reached new records, prompting the UN Secretary General to declare that 'the era of global warming is over, and the era of global boiling has arrived'. In this context, urban areas play a key role, and can be considered a bottleneck of the climate crisis. The European Commission is investing billions of euros in research and innovation projects in urban areas, while the European Green Deal strategy has the ambition of making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent on the planet by 2050. However, studies and research show that the causes of the climate crisis are rooted in an economic system that produces profound inequalities, and the very solutions to address the consequences of global warming risk deepening them. In this context, the role of cities is not only to decarbonise their urban fabric, but to build solutions to the social challenge posed by the climate crisis, promoting paradigm shifts capable of producing trajectories towards so-called 'climate justice'. This research analyses, through a holistic view, European policies in these fields, and delves into the actions and projects of four European cities - Amsterdam, Bilbao, Freiburg, and Lisbon - through a qualitative approach aimed at identifying strengths and contradictions of strategies to tackle the climate crisis. Delving into the collective dynamics and social impacts of the actions promoted, the research proposes a comprehensive view of the role that urban areas can play not only in decarbonising society, but in promoting a paradigm shift capable of addressing the economic causes and social consequences of the climate crisis.

O esporte paraolímpico no Brasil : abordagem da sociologia do esporte de Pierre Bourdieu

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

(FAB07_002) From the 'Curry to the 'Weal: Aboriginal town camps and compounds of the back-blocks

My involvement with Aboriginal people began in 1972 in my final year of architecture, when a small group of students were asked to advise on some Aboriginal building projects in Mt Isa and Cloncurry. This led to my Doctoral research and grew into the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre now well established at the university of Queensland. Although the personnel of this Centre have completed over 140 field trips in the last 20 years, it is a set of data collected largely from the first ten field trips in 1972-76 that will be presented in this paper.

Strategic research partnerships: Empirical evidence from Asia

This paper evaluates the role Strategic Research Partnerships (SRPs) play in Asia. Specific Asian institutional settings influence the roles of SRPs. Japan is regarded as a forerunner in the practice of SRPs. In Japan, lack of spillover channels, limited opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, weak university research and pressure for internal diversification motivate firms to form SRPs. In Korea, SRPs are regarded as a means to promote large-scale research projects. In Taiwan, SRPs are formed to facilitate technological diffusion. Empirical findings on SRPs, focusing on government-sponsored R&D consortia in Japan, are summarized. Issues regarding SRP formation, their effect on R&D spending of participating firms, and productivity, are examined. Reference is made to alternative forms of measurement of SRPs and their potential application to Asian countries is assessed. Enhancing the capacity of policy-makers to assess the extent and contribution of SRPs is considered to be a priority.

Teacher voice and ownership of curriculum change

We comment critically on the notion that teachers can experience ownership of curriculum change. The evidence base for this commentary is our work on two curriculum development projects in health and physical education between 1993 and 1998. Applying a theoretical framework adapted from Bernstein's writing on the social construction of pedagogic discourse, we contend that the possibilities for teacher ownership of curriculum change are circumscribed by the anchoring of their authority to speak on curriculum matters in the local context of implementation. We argue that this anchoring of teacher voice provides a key to understanding the perennial problem of the transformation of innovative ideas from conception to implementation. We also provide some insights into the extent to which genuine participation by teachers in education reform might be possible, and we conclude with a discussion of the possibilities that exist for partnerships in reforming health and physical education.

Moralidade e plágio : um estudo com alunos do ensino médio

Nosso objetivo foi compreender o juízo da representação da ação de plágio de estudantes do segundo e terceiro anos do ensino médio, provenientes de escolas públicas e particulares de Vitória, Espírito Santo. Participaram 40 discentes entre 16 a 18 anos, que frequentavam três escolas públicas e duas privadas da cidade de Vitória-ES, divididos igualmente quanto a sexo e tipo de instituição. Nosso instrumento de pesquisa foi a um roteiro de entrevista semiestruturado, contendo uma história-fictícia que envolveu o comportamento de plágio. As entrevistas foram realizadas individualmente, em consonância com o método clínico piagetiano e, como procedimento de análise dos protocolos, utilizamos a sistematização de categorias proposta por Delval. Avaliamos os juízos dos adolescentes com relação a representação da ação de plágio do personagem da história-fictícia contada, nos seguintes aspectos: se consideravam a ação certa ou errada, se o plagiário deve ou não ser punido e qual (is) a (s) penalidade (s) sugerida (s). Foram solicitadas as justificativas de todos os aspectos anteriormente mencionados. A partir dos dados encontrados, constatamos que a maior parte dos estudantes: 1) considerou que o plágio é uma atitude errada; 2) justificou ser errado, principalmente pela “negligência do aluno no cumprimento do trabalho”, pela “possibilidade de consequência negativa” e pela “ação ser incorreta”; 3) afirmou que o personagem “deve ser punido”; 4) analisou, como castigo para este ato, “fazer um novo trabalho”, uma “conversa” e “receber nota zero no trabalho” plagiado e, por fim, 5) justificou as sanções sugeridas em virtude da “oportunidade de aprendizado e/ou reflexão do aluno com a punição” da “adequabilidade da punição” e da “possibilidade de consequência negativa para o aluno”. Por outro lado, as razões dos poucos escolares que consideravam que o personagem da história “não deve ser penalizado” foram a favor da “ausência de especificação e/ou proibição pelo docente” e por causa do plágio ser um “fato rotineiro”. De maneira geral, os dados de nossa pesquisa mostram que os participantes sabem que é errado plagiar, reconhecem que não se deve fazer este ato e a maioria dos estudantes penalizou a conduta investigada. Esse trabalho pode contribuir para a ampliação dos estudos na área da moralidade e colaborar com subsídios teóricos para a elaboração de projetos de educação em valores morais que contemplem, de uma forma geral, o enfrentamento da desonestidade acadêmica e, especificamente, o plágio. Consideramos que a inserção desse conteúdo nas propostas de educação em valores morais contemporâneas poderá enriquecer a formação moral dos estudantes. Assim, esperamos, a partir dos resultados encontrados na presente pesquisa, subsidiar e promover a realização de outros estudos e propiciar discussões e ações sobre o referido tema, principalmente na Psicologia e na Educação.

Expansão urbana e o Programa Minha Casa, Minha Vida na região metropolitana da Grande Vitória

Discute as contribuições do Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida (PMCMV) no processo de formação e expansão do espaço urbano da Região Metropolitana da Grande Vitória (RGMV), analisando especificamente a produção das moradias destinadas às famílias de baixa renda até R$ 1.600,00. Busca compreender as características operacionais do Programa e suas implicações sobre o espaço socialmente construído e na vida cotidiana das pessoas. A metodologia analítica foi estruturada com base em dados quantitativos, obtidos em órgãos públicos, sobre a produção habitacional desde o lançamento do Programa (2009) até janeiro de 2014. Os dados foram distribuídos por território e faixa de rendimento das famílias. Como estudo de caso foram pesquisadas três áreas na RMGV, nos municípios de Cariacica, Vila Velha e Vitória por possuírem projetos relevantes do PMCMV em diferentes fases de execução. A pesquisa abrange projetos distribuídos em cinco fases de execução (previstos, em aprovação, aprovados, em construção e entregues). Foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com moradores do conjunto habitacional do PMCMV em Vitória; moradores vizinhos aos empreendimentos do PMCMV em Vila Velha; comerciantes; presidente da associação de moradores de bairros; empregados das construtoras e servidores públicos. Foram feitas pesquisas de campo nas áreas selecionadas e nos territórios do entorno de onde estão sendo implantadas as moradias de interesse social. O Programa tem alcançado resultados expressivos: sendo 3.2 milhões de unidades foram contratadas e 1.5 milhão entregues em 5 anos no Brasil. No mesmo período foram 46.879 e 15.295 no Espírito Santo e na RMGV foram 25.919 e 6.958 unidades contratadas e entregues respectivamente. O PMCMV continua a reproduzir historicamente contradições inerentes às políticas habitacionais antecedentes como submissão às estratégias do mercado capitalista e à reprodução de um modelo de crescimento urbano caracterizado pela segregação socioespacial, além de promover a ocupação de novos espaços periféricos das cidades atuando como vetor de expansão urbana da RMGV.

Moravia : das lógicas da informalidade às lógicas da formalidade

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, 2016.