Domestic demand-side response with heat pumps: controls and tariffs

ABSTRACT

Electric heat pumps feature prominently in projected energy transitions in the UK and elsewhere. Owing to their high electricity consumption, heat pumps are viewed as important targets for demand-side response (DSR). Findings are presented from a field trial of a new control system that aims to optimize heat pump performance, including under time-varying tariff conditions. The trial involved monitoring 76 properties with heat pumps, but without dedicated heat storage; 31 of these received the control system. Interviews were conducted with a subsample of 12 participants. The controller successfully evened out electricity demand over the day (reducing the evening peak), but this was associated with increased late night and daytime temperatures. Interview participants reported some disturbance owing to overnight heating and noise, as well as usability issues with the controller interface and hardware. These issues present risks to the future acceptability of such systems. While the system delivered short-term demand reductions successfully, longer-term demand shifting risked causing unacceptable disturbance to occupants. Future control systems could overcome some of the issues identified in this pioneering trial through more effective zoning, using temperature caps or installing dedicated heat storage, but these may either limit the available flexibility or be challenging to achieve.     

The effect of cognitive and affective aspects on usability

Studies on customer’s needs, desires and preferences have become highly important in the product design and development process. One consideration in usability is the cognitive aspect, which is related to the accommodation and evaluation of human cognitive capabilities, limitations and tendencies. In addition to the cognitive aspect, a recent study has shown that the affective aspect has been considered in the evaluation of product usability. Thus, both cognitive and affective aspects are deemed to be important for product design and the development process. Inherently, both aspects deliver complete human and product interaction and experience. However, studies that consider the affective process as a complement to the cognitive process for usability are relatively rare. To address this gap, this study discusses how an integrative framework of the cognitive and affective aspects can be applied to a product for usability assessment via empirical studies on e-commerce and e-learning platforms. The sample involved 230 respondents, using purposive sampling. The result shows that both cognitive and affective aspects have a significant effect, although with different weights. The affective aspect has been shown to improve product usability and user’s acceptance.     

Challenges for technology diffusion policy to achieve socio-economic goals

The aim of this contribution is to analyze the challenges for technology diffusion policies to achieve expected socio-economic goals and to deduce conclusions for an adequate policy design. Based on hypotheses from theoretical contributions, we review two rather distinct technology fields. One is biobased products, the other health technologies with bioethanol and magnetic resonance imaging respectively as case studies in order to derive rather general insights regarding those policies. The case studies highlight the difficulties in achieving the aimed societal goals by promoting technology diffusion. The dominant innovation design (e.g. techniques or resources used) which diffuses or its application fields (e.g. indication, patient characteristics) differ from those assumed in impact assessments and side-effects which occur in other markets. The direct linkage of policy measures to societal criteria may avoid some of those undesired developments but may have side effects of their own, such as trade distortions or shifting the environmental burden to other activities. However, there is considerable scope for improvement in policy design compared to the status-quo. Overall, a more balanced policy mix regarding various socio-economic goals is vital and unintended side effects have to be considered more in decision making.     

触摸屏按键特征因素对键盘输入操作可用性的影响

目的研究三种按键特征因素(即按键大小、间距和形状)对触摸屏输入可用性的影响。方法本研究结合人因实验和分析,采用5按键大小×3间距×3形状的组内设计,对触摸屏输入可用性(即输入绩效和使用偏好)进行实验测试,被试为15位在校大学生,采用重复测量的方差分析处理数据。结果按键大小、间距和形状对输入绩效均有显著影响;按键大小和间距、按键大小和形状之间存在显著交互作用;用户偏好可能产生较优绩效的按键设计方式。结论三种按键特征因素的不同设计方式对触摸屏输入的可用性有显著影响。     

Facilitated discussions increase learning gains from dialectically localized animated educational videos in Niger

ABSTRACT

This study measured the knowledge transfer and appeal of information and communication technologies (ICTs) used to deliver education for sustainable development (ESD) content to farmers in Niger experiencing major crop losses from the insect pest Maruca vitrata. ICT-ESD content consisted of two dialectically localized and animated videos that address food security problems of cowpea insect herbivory and the shortage of integrated pest management strategies in rural Niger. Comparing pre-test/post-test knowledge transfer for both animated videos when either (1) watched alone (AVO), or (2) in conjunction with a facilitated group discussion prior to post-testing (AVD), results from 90 farmers in 3 rural Nigerien villages showed statistically significant knowledge transfer in both AVO and AVD groups and still greater gains in the AVD group. Importantly, while a majority of participants expressed a preference for learning from such animated videos and a willingness to share their new knowledge and the videos with others, this finding did not statistically significantly associate with education level, supporting the idea that AVO/AVD is an inclusive strategy for low-literate learners within developing-nation contexts. Recommendations and theoretical implications for ICT-ESD implementations in resource-limited areas are also discussed.     

提高仪器设备使用效益

提高仪器设备管理工作水平 ,充分发挥仪器设备的使用效益是高校设备管理的重要研究内容 .只有适应市场经济的发展 ,加强仪器设备的科学化、规范化管理 ,才能达到管理出效益的目的 .     

随钻方位电阻率测井仪线圈系设计方法研究

随钻方位电磁波电阻率测井仪器实现地层方位电阻率测量和地层层界面检测的关键在于测井仪线圈系结构的设计,且测井仪器的检测性能主要受电磁波信号发射频率、线圈源距、线圈间距、线圈倾角以及所测地层电阻率的影响。针对随钻方位电磁波电阻率测井仪器的不同检测要求,确定测井仪器的检测方式。根据线圈系结构在不同检测方式的条件下所满足的约束条件,采用仿真实验的手段设计随钻方位电磁波电阻率测井仪的线圈系结构,为实际工程应用中线圈系的结构设计提供参考依据。     

某塔楼基于性能抗震设计

简述了基于性能抗震设计思想,判断塔楼超限情况,确定抗震性能目标,并通过对某塔楼进行小 震弹性分析、中震不屈服分析和弹性时程补充分析,对其结构抗震性能进行评估.最后,总结该塔楼基于性能抗震设计的经验,为同类工程设计提供参考.     

Habituation effects in computer security warning

ABSTRACT

Security warning is a form of computer dialog communication that is used to inform the users on the risks of allowing random applications to run on a computer system. Accordingly, it is specifically designed to impersonate a legitimate security alerting function (e.g., notify, warn and advice) to a user about the consequence effect of an action. However, most of the computer users tend to ignore those security warnings conveying the same message over and over again. This eventually leads to habituation. Considering the fact that there is a significant lack of focus been paid to address this issue, the main objective of this paper is to describe and summarize the related studies on users’ habituation to the security warnings. This paper presents a systematic literature review to explore the current key issues, challenges and the possible solutions related to habituation effects in security warnings. It is expected that this paper could contribute to a more complete understanding of the habituation effects in security warnings and eventually bring benefits to the research communities or general publics.