Bringing Life to Online Meetings

The future of work and learning will take place in two-dimensional, online settings, even if these virtual formats are used to augment in-person experiences. In this chapter, the author reflects on his improv theater and teaching experiences to offer practical advice on enhancing collaboration in small, synchronous online meetings, both in the classroom and workplace. Core principles include engaging selflessly, honoring the power of empty space, and bringing emotional and physical energy to each online session. The author shares lively examples from his own theatrical experience and supports the use of basic improv principles through social science, neuroscience, and workplace engagement research.

Virtual Energy Management for Physical Energy Savings in a Legged Robot Hopping on Granular Media

We discuss an active damping controller to reduce the energetic cost of a single step or jump of dynamic locomotion without changing the morphology of the robot. The active damping controller adds virtual damping to a virtual leg spring created by direct-drive motors through the robot’s leg linkage. The virtual damping added is proportional to the intrusion velocity of the robot’s foot, slowing the foot’s intrusion, and thus the rate at which energy is transferred to and dissipated by the ground. In this work, we use a combination of simulations and physical experiments in a controlled granular media bed with a single-leg robot to show that the active damping controller reduces the cost of transport compared with a naive compression-extension controller under various conditions.

Multi-Scenario Physical Energy Storage Planning of Integrated Energy Systems Considering Dynamic Characteristics of Heating Network and Demand Response

The configuration of energy storage in the integrated energy system (IES) can effectively improve the consumption rate of renewable energy and the flexibility of system operation. Due to the high cost and long cycle of the physical energy storage construction, the configuration of energy storage is limited. The dynamic characteristics of the heating network and the demand-side response (DR) can realize the space-time transfer of energy. Although there is no actual energy storage equipment construction, it plays a similar role to physical energy storage and can be considered as virtual energy storage in IES planning. In this paper, a multi-scenario physical energy storage planning model of IES considering the dynamic characteristics of the heating network and DR is proposed. To make full use of the energy storage potential of the proposed model, the virtual energy storage features of the dynamic heating characteristics of the heating network and DR are analyzed at first. Next, aiming at the uncertainty of wind turbine (WT) and photovoltaic (PV) output, the scenario analysis method is used to describe the wind and photovoltaic power output with different probabilities. Finally, an electrothermal IES with an IEEE 33-node network and a 26-node heating network serves as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The case study shows that the proposed model effectively reduces the physical energy storage configuration and achieves the economic trade-off between the investment cost and the operation cost.

Life-cycle impact assessment methods for physical energy scarcity: considerations and suggestions

Purpose Most approaches for energy use assessment in life cycle assessment do not consider the scarcity of energy resources. A few approaches consider the scarcity of fossil energy resources only. No approach considers the scarcity of both renewable and non-renewable energy resources. In this paper, considerations for including physical energy scarcity of both renewable and non-renewable energy resources in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) are discussed. Methods We begin by discussing a number of considerations for LCIA methods for energy scarcity, such as which impacts of scarcity to consider, which energy resource types to include, which spatial resolutions to choose, and how to match with inventory data. We then suggest three LCIA methods for physical energy scarcity. As proof of concept, the use of the third LCIA method is demonstrated in a well-to-wheel assessment of eight vehicle propulsion fuels. Results and discussion We suggest that global potential physical scarcity can be operationalized using characterization factors based on the reciprocal physical availability for a set of nine commonly inventoried energy resource types. The three suggested LCIA methods for physical energy scarcity consider the following respective energy resource types: (i) only stock-type energy resources (natural gas, coal, crude oil and uranium), (ii) only flow-type energy resources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and the flow generated from biomass funds), and (iii) both stock- and flow-type resources by introducing a time horizon over which the stock-type resources are distributed. Characterization factors for these three methods are provided. Conclusions LCIA methods for physical energy scarcity that provide meaningful information and complement other methods are feasible and practically applicable. The characterization factors of the three suggested LCIA methods depend heavily on the aggregation level of energy resource types. Future studies may investigate how physical energy scarcity changes over time and geographical locations.

Vitality, Racial Creativity, and Biopolitics

In a materialist vitalism that emerged, nerve force as a physical energy was assumed to give idiosyncratic shape to organisms, races, and species. Borrowing from evolutionary theory and biometrics, Oliver Wendell Holmes suggests in Elsie Venner that the vital force of the average members of a race or species will prevail, while hybrids at the edges of the vital bell curve will expire, a principle that applies as well to literature, which has its own vital curve. William Dean Howells promotes a naturalized realism of the healthy, national (white, middle-class) average. W. E. B. Du Bois and Pauline Hopkins take on the task of establishing the African American race as vigorous and empowered rather than enervated—and of eluding constraining racial definition by oscillating between biological and immaterial conceptions of racial force.

Quasi Z-Source Network-Based Photovoltaic Supported STATCOM for Voltage and Frequency Control of Stand-Alone WECS

This paper proposes a control scheme that enhances both the power quality and voltage synchronization of the Self-Excited Induction Generator (SEIG) driven by a wind turbine supplying power to a remote region. A reactive power constraint of SEIG under load disturbances is balanced by a modified Second-Order Generalized Integrator (SOGI) with Fuzzy Logical Controller (FLC) controlled Quasi-Impedance (QZ) source network-based Static Compensator (STATCOM). The combination of STATCOM and the photovoltaic system, battery and flywheel enhances the active power potential of conventional STATCOMs by means of a hybridized STATCOM system. This system is intended for the optimum use of energy generated from renewable energy sources by physical energy storage systems such as flywheels and batteries. This tends to compensate for the deviation of both active and reactive power and hence increase in active power, reliability and system stability. For analyzing device behavior, the dynamic hybrid STATCOM model with FLC dependent ESOGI has been developed. In standalone operation, simulated and experimental findings indicate the increased capability and system efficiency under variable load conditions.