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User evaluation of task execution at industrial interfaces using the USE questionnaire
Get PDFInformation and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are widely used in organizations and their use has many favourable consequences, fostering interaction and collaboration, workplace learning, job performance and productivity. In the industrial environment, due to the recent incorporation of new technologies and digital solutions development, the optimization and acquisition of knowledge has been enhanced. As a result, the challenges and problems associated with the implementation of ICT systems has led the scientific community to better understand the factors related to the appropriation of technology that implies proper task execution. This communication presents a case study focused on task analysis through two industrial interfaces based on the USE questionnaire (Utility, Satisfaction and Ease of Use). Obtained results show that digital solutions oriented to fulfil the task in a more usable way, achieve better scores in terms of usefulness, satisfaction and ease of use, as well as being considered easier to learn.Las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) se utilizan ampliamente en las organizaciones y su uso tiene muchas consecuencias favorables, ya que fomentan la interacción, la colaboración, el aprendizaje, el desempeño laboral y la productividad. En el entorno industrial, debido a la reciente incorporación de nuevas tecnologías y el desarrollo de nuevas soluciones digitales, se ha puesto de relieve la optimización de la interacción y la adquisición del conocimiento por parte de los empleados. Dada esta situación, los desafíos y problemas asociados con la implementación de sistemas TIC ha llevado a la comunidad científica a tratar de comprender los factores relacionados con la apropiación de la tecnología que implican una correcta ejecución de tareas. Esta comunicación presenta un caso de estudio enfocado en el análisis de tareas mediante dos interfaces industriales, tomando como base el cuestionario USE (Utilidad, Satisfacción y Facilidad de uso). Los resultados obtenidos recogen que las soluciones digitales orientadas a cumplimentar las tareas de una forma más usable, consiguen mejores puntuaciones en términos de utilidad, satisfacción y facilidad de uso, siendo considerados como más fáciles de aprender
Bateriaren Zahartzeaz Kontziente den Energiaren Kudeaketako Estrategiaren Sentsibilitate-Analisia
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to present the sensitivity analysis of a battery ageing conscious energy management strategy. The initial design of an energy management strategy is a significant point, in order to fulfil the efficiency goals. The proposed energy management strategy is a fuzzy logic control algorithm, which membership functions and output are tuned by dynamic programming optimisation. The sensitivity study has been based on analysing the operation costs within the battery lifetime. This strategy has been implemented in a series hybrid electric bus. The vehicle auxiliary power and passengers have been identified as sensitive variables. Two main conclusions have been obtained from the analysis. Firstly, the strategy is more sensitive with respect to auxiliaries demanded power. Secondly, due to the fact that the conditions used for the initial design vary within the battery lifetime, a strategy updating need is observed.Artikulu honen helburua bateriaren zahartzeaz kontziente den energiaren kudeaketako estrategia baten sentsibilitate-analisia aurkeztea da. Energiaren kudeaketako estrategia baten hasierako diseinua garrantzitsua da, efizientzia-helburuak bete daitezen. Proposatzen den estrategia logika lausoko kontrol-algoritmoa da, zeinaren bazkidetza-funtzioak eta irteera programazio dinamiko baten optimizazioan oinarrituta dagoen. Sentsibilitate-analisia operazio-kostuen alorrean eta bateriaren bizitzan zehar burutu da. Estrategia hau seriean konfiguratutako autobus hibrido batean inplementatua izan da. Identifikatutako aldagai sentikorrak ibilgailuaren elementu osagarrien potentzia-eskaera eta bidaiari-kopurua izan dira. Bi ondorio nagusi lortu dira analisi honetatik. Batetik, estrategia elementu osagarrien potentzia-eskaerarekiko sentikorragoa dela. Bestetik, diseinuko hasierako baldintzak bateria zahartzen den heinean aldatzen direnez, estrategiaren eguneraketaren beharra ikusten da
FPGA-Based Degradation and Reliability Monitor for Underground Cables
Get PDFThe online Remaining Useful Life (RUL) estimation of underground cables and their reliability analysis requires obtaining the cable failure time probability distribution. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of complex thermal heating and electro-thermal degradation models can be employed for this analysis, but uncertainties need to be considered in the simulations, to produce accurate RUL expectation values and confidence margins for the results. The process requires performing large simulation sets, based on past temperature or load measurements and future load predictions. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) permit accelerating simulations for live analysis, but the thermal models involved are complex to be directly implemented in hardware logic. A new standalone FPGA architecture has been proposed for the fast and on-site degradation and reliability analysis of underground cables, based on MC simulation, and the effect of load uncertainties on the predicted cable End Of Life (EOL) has been analyzed from the results
How can Design Thinking promote entrepreneurship in young people?
Get PDFDesign Thinking has the potential to promote entrepreneurial competencies in European schools. This paper presents an Educational Programme based on Design Thinking and its empirical application in the curricula in four European countries. Targeting 10-15 year old students, the programme demonstrates an impact on entrepreneurial attitudes. Over 300 participants in Cyprus, Denmark, France and Spain responded positively to the initiative and reported a better understanding of entrepreneurship. Qualitative and quantitative results also showed that Design Thinking based strategies are effective to foster entrepreneurial skills such as creativity, problem solving and self-confidence. Interestingly however, experimentation results reported a negative impact on collaboration related skills
Teachers’ perceptions about the use of the Learning ePortfolio as learning and assessment tool in Mondragon Unibertsitatea
Get PDFThe aim of the present study is to analyse teachers’ initial perceptions about
the use of the Learning ePortfolio as the main learning and assessment tool in
Early Years Education and Primary Education Degrees. This is a piece of a
major longitudinal research being carried out in the Faculty of Humanities
and Education in Mondragon Unibertsitatea. Results show that teachers are
aware of the flexibility offered by the Learning ePortfolio to assess students’
learning processes. Indeed, teachers think the Learning ePortfolio is a
valuable tool for both students and teachers. However, there are still some
outstanding issues to discuss with all the teachers involved in the use of the
Learning ePortfolio. Conclusions drawn from this study show that the
Learning ePortfolio constitutes a helpful and valuable tool for both students
and teachers and it helps when carrying out formative assessment processes.
Nevertheless, more training is needed to solve the gaps identified for its use
Development of inter-organizational colaborative relationships: the case of an automotive industry supplier
Get PDFThe competitiveness of companies depends to a large extent on the ability to respond to the needs of their customers. These needs are increasingly demanding and complex to resolve, translating to the rest of the agents in the value chain. Therefore, companies need to obtain knowledge that exceeds the limits of the company. This requires new ways of dealing with suppliers based on collaborative relationships, in order to provide greater value to the customer and obtain better performance in product development. This study qualitatively analyses, through the case study methodology the collaborative relationships between clients and suppliers in a company of automotive components. The main objective is to understand the development process of the creation of collaborative relationships between the company and its suppliers among the product development process. As a result, on the one hand, the predisposition on the part of the company towards associative models of relations with suppliers is confirmed and the lack of systematized processes that support them is observed. On the other hand, the most important areas for the company in relation to collaboration processes are identified.La competitividad de las empresas depende en gran medida de la capacidad de dar respuesta a las necesidades de sus clientes. Éstas, cada vez son más exigentes y complejas de resolver, trasladándose al resto de agentes en la cadena de valor. Por ello, las empresas necesitan obtener conocimientos que sobrepasan los límites de la empresa, lo cual requiere nuevas formas de tratar con los proveedores basadas en relaciones de colaboración con el objetivo de aportar mayor valor al cliente y obtener un mejor rendimiento en el desarrollo de producto. Este estudio, analiza de forma cualitativa y a través del estudio de casos, las relaciones de colaboración entre cliente-proveedor en una empresa de componentes de automoción. El objetivo principal es conocer el desarrollo de los procesos de creación de relaciones de colaboración entre la empresa y sus proveedores a lo largo del proceso de desarrollo de producto. Como resultado, por un lado, se confirma la predisposición por parte de la empresa hacia modelos asociativos de relaciones con proveedores y se observa la falta de procesos sistematizados que las soporten. Por otro lado, se identifican los ámbitos más importantes para la empresa en relación a los procesos de colaboración
Artificial Neural Network Based Reinforcement Learning for Wind Turbine Yaw Control
Get PDFThis paper introduces a novel data driven yaw control algorithm synthesis method based on Reinforcement Learning (RL) for a variable pitch variable speed wind turbine. Yaw control has not been extendedly studied in the literature; in fact, most of the currently considered developments in the scope of the wind energy are oriented to the pitch and speed control. The most important drawbacks of the yaw control are the very large time constants and the strict yaw angle change rate constraints due to the high mechanical loads when the wind turbine angle is changed in order to adequate it to the wind speed orientation. An optimal yaw control algorithm needs to be designed in order to adapt the rotor orientation depending on the wind turbine dynamics and the local wind speed regime. Consequently, the biggest challenge of the yaw control algorithm is to decide the moment and the quantity of the wind turbine orientation variation to achieve the highest quantity of power at each instant, taking into account the constraints derived from the mechanical limitations of the yawing system and the mechanical loads. In this paper, a novel based algorithm based on the RL Q-Learning algorithm is introduced. The first step is to obtain a model of the power generated by the wind turbine (a real onshore wind turbine in this paper) through a power curve, that in conjunction with a conventional proportional regulator will be used to obtain a dataset that explains the actual behaviour of the real wind turbine when a variety of different yaw control commands are imposed. That knowledge is then used to learn the best control action for each different state of the wind turbine with respect to the wind direction represented by the yaw angle, storing that knowledge in a matrix Q(s,a). The last step is to model that matrix through a MultiLayer Perceptron with BackPropagation (MLP-BP) Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to avoid large matrix management and quantification problems. Once that the optimal yaw controller has been synthetized, its performance has been assessed using a number of wind speed realizations obtained using the software application TurbSim, in order to analyze how the introduced novel algorithm deals with different wind speed scenarios
Students´ voice: the key to build a school for all
Get PDFIkastetxe guztietan dagoen aniztasunaren aurrean, indarra hartu du kalitatezko eta ekitatezko hezkuntza inklusiboaren ikuspegiak. Artikulu honetan, ikerketa proiektu baten prozesu eta emaitzak aurkezten dira eta proiektu honetan orain arte sisteman isilduak izan diren protagonisten ahotsak jaso dira. Proiektuan parte hartu dute Gipuzkoan kokatzen den eskola bateko Lehen Hezkuntzako
ikasle guztiek eta helburua izan da ezagutzea ikasleek eskolan dituzten sentimendu eta bizipenak. Horretarako, galdetegiak, ikasleen ahotsa azaleratzen laguntzen duten teknikak eta eztabaida-taldeak erabili dira. Emaitzek adierazi dute ikasleek zeresan handia daukatela eskolako kulturan, politikan eta
praktiketan eta, alderdi positiboak azaleratu dituzten arren, oztopoak ere bizi dituztela eskolako parte-hartzeari eta ikaste-prozesuei dagokienez. Beraz, ikerketan honetan ikasleak entzuteko beharra baieztatzen da, eskolako bizikidetza, parte-hartzea eta ikaste-prozesuak errazteko neurriak eta estrategiak diseinatzeko.Inclusive education, a philosophy which advocates ensuring quality and equity for all children has become a driving force in the education movement due to diversity inside school rooms.
This article presents the process and results of a research project that endeavours to contribute to the promotion of inclusive educational processes by collecting the voices of protagonists, until now silenced in the system. The aim was to involve the participation of all the students of a primary school in
Gipuzkoa to know the feelings and experiences they have in school from an inclusive perspective. For those purpose questionnaires, special techniques for giving a voice to students and focus groups have been used as data collection tools. The results of the study indicate that the students as a whole, contribute interesting ideas related to the culture, practice and politics of the school and identify obstacles
concerning participation and learning processes. This study confirms the need to listen to the voices of
the protagonists to design measures and strategies that facilitate school life, participation and learning processes
Partial state-of-charge mitigation in standalone photovoltaic hybrid storage systems
Get PDFEnergy Storage in photovoltaic installations has increased in popularity in recent years due to the improvement in solar panel technology and energy storage systems. In several places where the grid is not available, in remote isolated rural locations or developing countries, isolated photovoltaic installations are one of the main options to power DC micro-grids. In these scenarios, energy storage elements are mandatory due to the natural day-night cycles and low irradiation periods. Traditionally, lead-acid batteries have been responsible for this task, due to their availability and low cost. However, the intermittent features of the solar irradiance patterns and load demand, generate multiple shallow charge–discharge cycles or high power pulses, which worsen the performance of these batteries. Some Hybrid Energy Storage Systems (HESSs) have been reported in the literature to enhance the lifetime and power capabilities of these storage elements, but they are not intended to overcome the Partial State of Charge (PSoC) issue caused by daily cycles, which has an e ect on the short and mid-term performance of the system. This paper studies the impact of the already proposed HESSs on PSoC operation, establishing the optimal hybrid ratios, and implementing them in a real installation with a satisfactory outcome
Análise socioambiental: Zona de Educação para Ecodesenvolvimento e Experiência Cooperativa de Mondragón
Get PDFEste artigo tem como objetivo avaliar os avanços e os limites de duas experiências conduzidas recentemente em dois diferentes territórios sobre os principais aspectos envolvidos na internalização da questão socioambiental. O estudo foi desenvolvido na Zona de Educação para o Ecodesenvolvimento (ZEE) do Rio Sagrado, Morretes (PR), Brasil, com um recorte temporal de 2006 a 2012; e a Experiência Cooperativa de Mondragón (ECM), Espanha (País Vasco), com recorte temporal compreendendo o período de 2007 a 2015. A metodologia enquadra-se como pesquisa aplicada de ênfase qualitativa; pesquisa participante e abordagem exploratório-descritiva e avaliativa com interpretação e análise de dados a partir do método de pesquisa qualitativa do discurso do sujeito coletivo (DSC). Os resultados demonstram que ambas trabalham a gestão socioambiental e socioeconômica com base do processo didático-pedagógico e da práxis educativa: a comunidade de aprendizagem do Rio Sagrado com uma ênfase pedagógica pautada no processo de ensino-aprendizagem; a comunidade de prática do cooperativismo com destaque ao recurso pedagógico da instrumentalização. Concluiu-se que, a seu modo, despontam como alternativas à lógica capitalista hegemônica, trabalhando preventivamente na transformação da comunidade local como protagonista de seu desenvolvimento.This article aims to evaluate the progress and limits of two experiments conducted recently in two different areas on the main aspects involved in the internalization of the environmental issue. They use two case studies: Ecodevelopment Education Zone (ZEE) of the Watershed Rio Sagrado, Morretes (PR); and Mondragon Cooperative Experience (ECM), Basque Country (Spain). The methodology fits as qualitative emphasis applied research; participant research and exploratory, descriptive and evaluative approach with interpretation and data analysis from the qualitative research method of the Collective Subject Discourse (DSC). The results demonstrate that the two experiences work on socio-environmental and socioeconomic management based on the didactic-pedagogical process and the educational praxis: the learning community of the Rio Sagrado with a pedagogical emphasis based on the teaching-learning process; The community of cooperative practice with emphasis on the pedagogical resource of instrumentalization. It was concluded that in their own way, they emerge as alternatives to the hegemonic capitalist logic, working preventively in transforming the local community as protagonists of its development