A Study of Cost-Saving Potential of Load Flexibility Measures in Grid-Interactive Multifamily Buildings

With recent advances in smart technologies, more and more smart devices are penetrating the residential and commercial buildings market. The introduction of these smart devices is also helping IoT companies emerge with load aggregator roles in the sector. With more utility companies on the track of supporting OpenADR protocols, the aggregators could play a significant role in providing load flexibilities by automatically responding to demand response (DR) events and coordinating load flexibility measures between customers. This would benefit utility companies by reducing stress on the grid during critical peak demand hours as well as customers by allowing them to utilize utility rate structures advantageous to those able to reduce electric usage during high-demand hours. This study evaluates cost and energy savings from adopting multiple load flexibility measures in multifamily buildings. Combinations of different load flexibility measures, including space temperature floating, light dimming, automatic window shading, and water heater temperature floating, are considered. The simulations are performed using OpenStudio®, an open-source U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) simulation platform. For the case study, we used a midrise apartment building with weather conditions from Denver, Colorado. To compare climate zone differences, simulations were also performed for Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois. Initial results indicate that the application of automated load flexibility measures without careful consideration of dispatching strategies and DR program enrollments could significantly affect the savings. To get meaningful cost savings, aggregators need to encourage tenant awareness to curtail energy usage through occupant behavior in addition to dispatching automatic load flexibility measures. The outcomes from this study are believed to help load aggregators understand the risks and benefits of load flexibility opportunities.

Labour Market Regulation and Youth Unemployment in the EU-28

The rise of youth unemployment has been one of the most serious problems which policymakers have had to deal with over the last two decades. Neoclassical economic theory suggests that the deregulation (i.e. higher flexibility) of the labour market stimulates firms to hire young people and—therefore—reduces youth unemployment. The aim of this study is to empirically test the validity of this hypothesis, analysing data on youth unemployment and labour market regulation index (LMRI) for 28 European countries in the period between 2000 and 2018. The empirical results—using two different econometric techniques (time and fixed effects that allows to take into account the presence of heterogeneity of countries in the model and pooling mean group (PMG) estimator providing results about the short and long run relationship between LMRI and youth unemployment)—do not provide evidence in support of the neoclassical hypothesis. In particular, the effect of higher flexibility of the labour market is negative and statistically significant (at 1%) only when a dummy variable for the Eastern country group is included in the model. Vice-versa, the paper shows that higher economic growth and higher investment in active labour market policy represent the key variables to reduce the youth unemployment. In conclusion, the paper raises many doubts that the introduction of flexibility measures in itself can represent a useful tool to counteract the increase of youth unemployment in Europe.

The role of neural flexibility in cognitive aging

Studies assessing relationships between brain and cognitive changes in healthy aging have shown that a variety of aspects of brain structure and function explain a significant portion of the variability in cognitive outcomes throughout adulthood. Many studies assessing relationships between brain function and cognition have utilized time-averaged, or static functional connectivity methods to explore ways in which brain network organization may contribute to aspects of cognitive aging. However, recent studies in this field have suggested that time-varying, or dynamic measures of functional connectivity, which assess changes in functional connectivity throughout a scan session, may play a stronger role in explaining cognitive outcomes in healthy young adults. Further, both static and dynamic functional connectivity studies suggest that there may be differences in patterns of brain-cognition relationships as a function of whether or not the participant is performing a task during the scan. Thus, the goals of the present study were threefold: (1) assess whether dynamic connectivity (neural flexibility) during both resting as well as task-based scans is related to participant age and cognitive performance in a lifespan aging sample, (2) determine whether neural flexibility moderates relationships between age and cognitive performance, and (3) explore differences in neural flexibility between rest and task. Participants in the study were 423 healthy adults between the ages of 20-80 who provided resting state and/or task-based (Matrix Reasoning) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan data as part of their participation in two ongoing studies of cognitive aging. Neural flexibility measures from both resting and task-based scans reflected the number of times each node changed network assignment, and were averaged both across the whole brain (global neural flexibility) as well as within nine somatosensory/cognitive networks. Results showed that neural flexibility during the task was higher in older adults, and that neural flexibility in Default Mode and Visual networks was negatively related to performance on the Matrix Reasoning task. Resting state neural flexibility was not significantly related to either participant age or cognitive performance. Additionally, no neural flexibility measures that significantly moderated relationships between participant age and cognitive outcomes. Further, neural flexibility differed as a function of scan type, with resting state neural flexibility exhibiting significantly more variability than task-based neural flexibility. Thus, neural flexibility measures computed during a cognitive task may be more strongly related to cognitive performance across the adult lifespan, and are more sensitive to the effects of participant age on brain organization.

Development and evaluation of risk treatment paths within energy-oriented production planning and control

Production planning and control pursues high delivery reliability and short delivery time of the production system at the lowest possible costs. Especially in energy-intensive industries, energy cost account for a significant amount of manufacturing costs. The consideration of variable electricity market prices using energy-flexibility measures facilitates reduced costs by adapting the load profile of production to an electricity price forecast. However, it also increases the production planning and control system’s complexity by additional input variables and possible risks due to the influence of flexibility measures on the production system. In the case of unexpected events, such as failure of machines or faulty materials, it is difficult to adapt the complex production system to the new situation quickly. There is a risk of high additional costs by various causes, such as delays in deadlines or load peaks. Therefore, this paper presents an approach for developing and evaluating risk treatment paths, which include possible combinations of risks and measures for the mitigation of risk effects. The advantage of these paths compared to a situational reaction is that all effects and possible further interactions can be considered and thus overall cost-efficient solutions can be found. The approach is based on the determination of interactions through interpretive structural modelling and the calculation of conditional probabilities using Bayesian Networks. The approach was implemented in MATLAB® and applied using real order and energy data from a foundry. The results show that the presented approach enables structured and data-based comparison of risk treatment paths.

Investigating the Electrical Demand-Side Management Potential of Industrial Steam Supply Systems Using Dynamic Simulation

The increasing share of volatile, renewable energies, such as wind and solar power, leads to challenges in the stabilization of power grids and requires more flexibility in future energy systems. This article addresses the flexibilization of the consumer side and presents a simulation-based method for the technical and economic investigation of energy flexibility measures in industrial steam supply systems. The marketing of three different energy-flexibility measures—bivalence, inherent energy storage and adjusting process parameters—both at the spot market and at the balancing power market, are investigated from a technical as well as an economic point of view. Furthermore, the simulation-based methodology also considers pressure and temperature fluctuation induced by energy-flexibility measures. First, different energy-flexibility measures for industrial steam supply systems are introduced. Then, the physical modeling of the steam generation, distribution, and consumption as well as measure-specific control strategies will be discussed. Finally, the methodology is applied to a steam supply system of a chemical company. It is shown that the investigated industrial steam supply system shows energy-flexibility potentials up to 10 MW at peak and an annual average of 5.6 MW, which highly depend on consumer behavior and flexibility requirements.

Data-Driven Evaluation for Demand Flexibility of Segmented Electric Vehicle Chargers in the Korean Residential Sector

The rapid spread of renewable energy resources has increased need for demand flexibility as one of the solutions to power system imbalance. However, to properly estimate the demand flexibility, demand characteristics must be analyzed first and the corresponding flexibility measures must be validated. Thus, in this study, a novel approach is proposed to evaluate the demand flexibility provided by Electric Vehicle Chargers (EVC) in the residential sector based upon a new process of electric charging demand characteristic data analysis. The proposed model estimates the frequency, consistency, and operation scores of the flexible demand resource (FDR) during identified ramp-up/down intervals presented in our previous work. The scores are included in the components that calculate the flexibility score referring that the closer it is to 1, the higher utilization as an FDR. A case study was conducted by considering EV user segmentation based on their demand characteristic analysis. The results confirm that flexibility scores of segmented EVC groups are about 0.0273 in ramp-up and ramp-down intervals. Based on the experimental results, the flexibility score can be utilized for multi-dimensional analysis and verification in perspectives of seasonality, participation time interval, customer group classification, and evaluation. Thus, the proposed method can be used as an indicator to determine how a segmented EVC group is adequate to participate as an FDR while suggesting meaningful implications through EVC demand data analysis.

Validity of the STarT Back Tool in Patients with Low-Back Pain Using Spinal Flexibility Measures

Background: Correlation between prediction tools of disability and traditional physical performance tests in ascertaining disability risks remains unexplored. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the convergent validity of the STarT back tool (SBT) for predicting disability risk using the spinal range of motion (ROM). Methods: Thirty patients with low-back pain (LBP) volunteered for this study. We used the SBT and Dual inclinometers to assess the future risk for disability and spinal ROM, as well as Anthropometric factors and pain intensity. Results: Poor and moderate spinal ROM for forward (93.3%, 6.7%), left lateral (63.30%, 36.70%) and right lateral (80.00%, 20.00%) flexion respectively were common among the participants. Backward extension ROM (36.70%, 46.70%) was mostly good and very good. There was a 60% medium risk for future physical disability based on SBT. There was no significant association between spinal ROM and SBT future disability prediction (χ2 = 3.367, P > 0.05). Conclusions: The SBT and spinal ROM assessment are independent measures of functional disability. They should complement one another in clinical assessment procedures for effective outcomes in the treatment of LBP.

Do Work–Life Measures Really Matter? The Impact of Flexible Working Hours and Home-Based Teleworking in Preventing Voluntary Employee Exits

Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of work–life measures, which are designed to contribute to job quality and help reconcile employees’ work and personal lives. In our study, we asked whether such measures can also work as inducements to prevent employees from voluntarily leaving a firm. We considered flexible working hours and home-based teleworking as flexibility measures that are potentially attractive to all employees. To address the possible bias caused by sketchy implementation and their actual selective use, we chose to examine employees’ perceptions of the offer of these measures. We investigated the moderation of the effect by organizational culture and supervisor and coworker support. We controlled for several indicators of job quality, such as job satisfaction and perceived fairness, to isolate specific ways in which work–life measures contributed to voluntary employee exit, and checked for a selective attractiveness of work–life measures to parents and women as the main caregivers. Using a three-wave panel employer–employee survey, we estimated multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models for 5452 employees at 127 large German establishments. Our results confirmed that both types of flexibility measures were associated with a lower probability of voluntarily exit. This applied more to men than to women, and the probability was reduced by a demanding organizational culture. Both measures seemed not to be specifically designed to accommodate main caregivers but were attractive to the whole workforce.