Search results for "consumption"
showing 10 items of 1796 documents
On thermoeconomics of energy systems at variable load conditions: integrated optimization of plant design and operation
2007
Abstract Thermoeconomics has been assuming a growing role among the disciplines oriented to the analysis of energy systems, its different methodologies allowing solution of problems in the fields of cost accounting, plant design optimisation and diagnostic of malfunctions. However, the thermoeconomic methodologies as such are particularly appropriate to analyse large industrial systems at steady or quasi-steady operation, but they can be hardly applied to small to medium scale units operating in unsteady conditions to cover a variable energy demand. In this paper, the fundamentals of thermoeconomics for systems operated at variable load are discussed, examining the cost formation process an…
Life cycle energy and environmental impacts of a solid oxide fuel cell micro-CHP system for residential application
2019
Abstract Fuel cells are considered one of the key technologies to reach the ambitious European goal of a low carbon economy, by reducing CO2 emissions and limiting the production of other pollutants. The manuscript presents an assessment of the life cycle energy and environmental performances of a solid oxide fuel cell system for household applications using primary data from the manufacturing phase and experimental data for the start-up and operation phases. The Life Cycle Assessment methodology is applied, based on a functional unit of 1 MJ of exergy and includes the life cycle steps from the raw materials extraction to the maintenance. The results show a particular relevance of the opera…
What determines a positive attitude towards natural food products? An expectancy theory approach.
2021
Natural food products are becoming increasingly popular worldwide due to their health and environmental benefits. However, these products' increasing anecdotal popularity has not translated into their widespread adoption; in fact, demand for natural food products remains confined to a relatively small segment of consumers. Despite this, little is known about the facilitators and inhibitors of favourable attitude of consumers towards these products. Recognising this gap, our study employed the theoretical lens of expectancy theory to investigate these factors. Through an extensive review of the pro-environmental consumption literature, we identified four facilitating and inhibiting factors: …
Borrowing and appropriation of works of art: an exploratory approach
2017
Borrowing of works of art is a consumption experience cannot be limited to its aesthetic dimension. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews with individuals and 28 «memories of works of art» published on the artothèque l’inventaire, this research aims to describe and understand experience with artwork to understand the various hybrid forms of possession of the object and the modalities of the process of appropriation. Given the results, trois figures of consumption seem to appear when it comes to borrow a work of art: the voluntary simplicity, the radical materialism and the ordinary materialism.
A Comprehensive Utility Function for Resource Allocation in Mobile Edge Computing
2020
In mobile edge computing (MEC), one of the important challenges is how much resources of which mobile edge server (MES) should be allocated to which user equipment (UE). The existing resource allocation schemes only consider CPU as the requested resource and assume utility for MESs as either a random variable or dependent on the requested CPU only. This paper presents a novel comprehensive utility function for resource allocation in MEC. The utility function considers the heterogeneous nature of applications that a UE offloads to MES. The proposed utility function considers all important parameters, including CPU, RAM, hard disk space, required time, and distance, to calculate a more realis…
Higher physical fitness levels are associated with less language decline in healthy ageing
2017
Healthy ageing is associated with decline in cognitive abilities such as language. Aerobic fitness has been shown to ameliorate decline in some cognitive domains, but the potential benefits for language have not been examined. In a cross-sectional sample, we investigated the relationship between aerobic fitness and tip-of-the-tongue states. These are among the most frequent cognitive failures in healthy older adults and occur when a speaker knows a word but is unable to produce it. We found that healthy older adults indeed experience more tip-of-the-tongue states than young adults. Importantly, higher aerobic fitness levels decrease the probability of experiencing tip-of-the-tongue states i…
Financial Behaviour Under Economic Strain in Different Age Groups: Predictors and Change Across 20 Years
2021
AbstractThe present study examined the multiple micro- and macro-level factors that affect individuals’ financial behaviour under economic strain. The following sociodemographic and economic factors that predict financial behaviour were analysed: age group, year of data gathering, and attitudes towards consumption (economical, deprived, and hedonistic). Subjective financial situations and demographic characteristics were controlled for. Finnish time series data that consisted of five cross-sectional nationally representative surveys were used (n = 10 043). The analyses revealed four types of financial behaviour: cutting expenses, borrowing, increasing income, and gambling. Young adults aged…
Banca ética y banca cooperativa. Un análisis comparativo a través del estudio de Caixa Popular y de Fiare Banca Ética
2017
Los bancos sociales representan en la actualidad una alternativa a la banca convencional, sobre todo para aquellos clientes que demandan un consumo socialmente responsable. La banca social está formada por dos tipos diferentes de entidades de crédito: los bancos cooperativos y los bancos éticos. Los primeros desarrollan su actividad desde hace ya más de un siglo a través de un modelo de banca de proximidad enfocada al territorio. Los segundos llevan tres décadas aproximadamente de funcionamiento, dirigiéndose a la realización de inversiones socialmente responsables (proyectos sociales y medioambientales). En el presente trabajo se analizan las similitudes y diferencias entre ambos modelos d…
A Novel Multi-step Finite-State Automaton for Arbitrarily Deterministic Tsetlin Machine Learning
2020
Due to the high energy consumption and scalability challenges of deep learning, there is a critical need to shift research focus towards dealing with energy consumption constraints. Tsetlin Machines (TMs) are a recent approach to machine learning that has demonstrated significantly reduced energy usage compared to neural networks alike, while performing competitively accuracy-wise on several benchmarks. However, TMs rely heavily on energy-costly random number generation to stochastically guide a team of Tsetlin Automata (TA) to a Nash Equilibrium of the TM game. In this paper, we propose a novel finite-state learning automaton that can replace the TA in TM learning, for increased determinis…
Understanding the flat sharing experience: spatial ambivalence of the collaborative consumption
2018
International audience