Abstract
There is a large consensus on the importance of human behaviour on the energy performance of buildings. Energy policy orientations consistently take into account the importance of the building stock in the overall energy use by societies. Existing buildings are specially challenging, as reliable diagnoses are required to take appropriate action towards comfort and energy efficiency. Managers also play a determinant role in building performance, either on investment decisions in technology or on the building operation. Middle-out agents may determine effective energy use options and positively influence behaviours at both levels, top management and occupants. Interdisciplinary cooperation amongst members of research teams is required for energy-efficient building design, coping simultaneously with technological and behavioural issues and their interrelations, privileging occupant-centred approaches.

Abstract
Electricity markets are complex environments, which have been suffering continuous transformations due to the increase of renewable based generation and the introduction of new players in the system. In this context, players are forced to re-think their behavior and learn how to act in this dynamic environment in order to get as much benefit as possible from market negotiations. This paper introduces a new learning model to enable players identifying the expected prices of future bilateral agreements, as a way to improve the decision-making process in deciding the opponent players to approach for actual negotiations. The proposed model introduces a con-textual dimension in the well-known Q-Learning algorithm, and includes a simulated annealing process to accelerate the convergence process. The proposed model is integrated in a multi-agent decision support system for electricity market players negotiations, enabling the experimentation of results using real data from the Iberian electricity market.

Abstract
This work aims to develop an embedded system and mobile application within Internet of Things (IoT) context, which allow the evaluation of control techniques widely used in the industry, for both remote configuration and monitoring of environment inside storage silos in laboratory scale. The developed system contributes to the validation of the recent released KNoT meta platform and extends its application to agricultural area. Preliminary results for on-off and PID temperature control suggest its feasibility for remote transmission of setpoint data to local controllers and data acquisition for monitoring by a mobile application. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.

Abstract

Abstract
During the transformation process of the energy supply system particularly the electricity networks need to be reinforced in the upcoming years. During network planning this can be achieved efficiently by considering innovative technologies and measures as well as by exchanging experiences at European level. This article presents developed methods and tools to derive European planning guidelines for distribution grids. In addition the first preliminary guidelines are introduced. They are based on the different challenges considered in the planning as well as the demonstrated operational capability of innovative technologies and measures. An increase of the feed-in by renewable energy resources as well as the consumption by electric vehicles is taken into account.

Abstract
After making an overview on the most recent progresses regarding the optical immersion treatment technique, we use this chapter to look to the future and perspectives of the following developments and benefits that can be achieved. The increasing number of publications on OC in the last 30 years, which we present in Sect. 9.1, indicates that this is a promising method to aid in the application of optical techniques in clinical practice for diagnosis or treatment purposes. Since several spectroscopy, fluorescence, or imaging methods have recently been used to test and validate the OC effects in various human and animal tissues, a collection of OCAs and OC protocols have been developed. Section 9.2 shows that to get even better results in tissue OC, the discovery of new agents and establishment of new protocols is a work in progress. Section 9.3 indicates the future perspectives for tissue spectroscopy during OC treatment and that the potential of the refractive index matching mechanism can also be evaluated in the ultraviolet range. Section 9.4 discusses the future perspectives of tissue imaging and OC. The establishment of new and faster OC protocols for tissue imaging is suggested, and indication for the necessary efforts to adapt the light-sheet technique to image in vivo is also made. Finally, Sect. 9.5 presents other applications of tissue OC and suggests the cooperation between research fields to increase knowledge in the use of OCAs and their benefits for each field. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.