Abstract Due to the introduction of distributed renewable energy technologies with variable resource availability, the need of flexible electrical systems is evident. In general, flexibility is achieved from the supply side and often using carbon intensive energy generators. Therefore, improving the flexibility of the electrical system by taking advantage of renewable energy generation capacities and demand response measures in buildings is of major importance for a sustainable development. Control systems to implement these demand response measures need to quantify the flexibility of the respective buildings. Having this into consideration, this paper aims at presenting a literature review on methodologies to quantify the energy flexibility of buildings.

The design of timber beams has strict limits when it comes to the Serviceability Limit States (SLS) either in short-term or in long-term deflections. In order to face this aspect efficiently, the increase of the cross section of the beams might be considered as a solution. However, the prohibitive increase of the costs associated to this solution or the change of the initial architecturedesign of the building, opens the opportunity to find new and more efficient solutions. In that way, the use of additional reinforcements to the timber beams may be seen as a promising solution because either new or old structures would keep always their original aesthetical aspect with no significant self-weight increase and improving their behaviour to short and long-term actions.Therefore, the current study is dedicated to the analysis of composite timber beams where Fiber Reinforcement Polymers (FRP), steel or stainless steel are used to improve the stiffness, strength and deflection behaviour of old suspended timber floors. An experimental program was conducted where old suspended timber floors reinforced with CFRP strips were subjected to 4-point bending tests. A simplify nonlinear numerical model was developed to simulate the bending behaviour of the specimens and several other cases with other reinforcement configurations and different structural materials were assumed. The numerical analysis herein presented also takes into account both Ultimate and Serviceability Limit States of the reinforced specimens.

Pequenos programadores: A robótica virtual na aprendizagem transdisciplinar

Robótica virtual ou robótica tangível, qual a ferramenta mais apelativa para os professores e alunos? Fomos à procura da resposta junto de cinco alunos que participaram em atividades com estas duas ferramentas. As atividades foram desenvolvidas no

Large-area electronics for applications in environments with radioactive contamination or medical X-ray detectors require materials and devices resistant to continuous ionizing radiation exposure. Here the superior X-ray radiation hardness of oxide thin film transistors (TFTs) based on gallium-indium-zinc oxide is demonstrated, when compared to organic ones. In the experiments both TFTs are subjected to X-ray radiation and their performances are monitored as a function of total ionizing dose. Flexible oxide TFTs maintain a constant mobility of 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 even after exposure to doses of 410 krad(SiO2), whereas organic TFTs lose 55% of their transport performance. The exceptional resistance of oxide semiconductors ionization damage is attributed to their intrinsic properties such as independence of transport on long-range order and large heat of formation. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim