NASA Sustainability Base - Building N232

The steel and aluminium used were chosen because they had high recycled content and were regionally available, thereby reducing transportation energy.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bcs/1193/thumbnail.jp

Smart homes and their users:a systematic analysis and key challenges

Published research on smart homes and their users is growing exponentially, yet a clear understanding of who these users are and how they might use smart home technologies is missing from a field being overwhelmingly pushed by technology developers. Through a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature on smart homes and their users, this paper takes stock of the dominant research themes and the linkages and disconnects between them. Key findings within each of nine themes are analysed, grouped into three: (1) views of the smart home-functional, instrumental, socio-technical; (2) users and the use of the smart home-prospective users, interactions and decisions, using technologies in the home; and (3) challenges for realising the smart home-hardware and software, design, domestication. These themes are integrated into an organising framework for future research that identifies the presence or absence of cross-cutting relationships between different understandings of smart homes and their users. The usefulness of the organising framework is illustrated in relation to two major concerns-privacy and control-that have been narrowly interpreted to date, precluding deeper insights and potential solutions. Future research on smart homes and their users can benefit by exploring and developing cross-cutting relationships between the research themes identified

2017 air emissions inventory

The SCPA has undertaken the largest environmental and community mitigation package in South Carolina to offset potential negative environmental impacts. SCPA recognizes the importance of maintaining good air quality in surrounding communities and minimizing emissions, therefore the package is one of the first in the nation to consider “people” impacts. This 2017 air emissions inventory (AEI) was compared with previous inventories to identify trends. This inventory quantifies pollutants primarily from combusting fuels in mobile sources occurring directly on SCPA terminal property, as well as emissions from ships, locomotives, and trucks that occur outside the terminals but within the tri-county area

An appropriate tool for entrepreneurial learning in SMEs? The case of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme

The 20Twenty Leadership Programme was developed by Cardiff Metropolitan University as an executive education programme to be delivered within South Wales to small businesses. It is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and administered by the Welsh European Funding Office and has the key aim of developing SME’s growth potential via a range of leadership and management skills, including a focus on ‘soft’ skills. The focus of this paper is to place the 20Twenty Leadership Programme within the wider context of entrepreneurship policy and SME training initiatives in particular, and then to examine the rationale and delivery methods of the Programme in relation to these. It also reflects on the Programme’s success (or otherwise) to date where possible. Finally, the paper seeks to suggest fruitful areas of further research both in terms of the 20Twenty Leadership Programme itself, but also with regard to evaluation in relation to other parallel programmes, and to SME training initiatives more generally

Improving the visibility of energy use in home heating in England: Thermal images and the role of visual tailoring

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Improving the visibility of energy use in home heating in England: Thermal images and the role of visual tailoring journaltitle: Energy Research & Social Science articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.01.005 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Mesh Development, Tidal Validation, and Hindcast Skill Assessment of an ADCIRC Model for the Hurricane Storm Surge Operational Forecast System on the US Gulf-Atlantic Coast

The Coast Survey Development Laboratory (CSDL) of the National Ocean Service (NOS) previously developed an Extratropical Surge and Tide Operational Forecast System (ESTOFS) for the US coastal waters (Funakoshi et al. 2013). Now, to extend the capability of ESTOFS to include tropical storm event simulation and ensemble prediction, CSDL is preparing a prototype Hurricane Storm Surge Operational Forecast System (HSSOFS). Under direction from CSDL, a technical team led by Riverside Technology, inc. has developed a hydrodynamic model of the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico and has validated the model for 10 major tropical and extratropical events. Eventually, this model will form the basis for an operational system on National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) computers. The prototype model described in this document is called NOMAD: NOAA Operational Model with ADCIRC

An Assessment of Mitigation Translocations for Reptiles at Development Sites

All native reptile species are protected against harm through their inclusion on UK legislation. With the exception of two species, this protection does not extend to reptile habitat. As a result, reptiles are frequently subject to mitigation translocations to facilitate the development of land. However, there are few published studies of the effects of mitigation translocation on reptile populations and whether such translocations are effective conservation interventions. The effectiveness of translocation was tested through a combination of: 1) field surveys of sites subject to mitigation across England and Wales; 2) the radio tracking of translocated adders; 3) the monitoring of a population of slow-worms at site where they were released 20 years ago; and 4) a penning experiment to test whether viviparous lizards attempt to disperse from the release site. Very few translocated reptiles were encountered during the monitoring of release sites. This paucity of recaptures is either due to post-release mortality, imperfect detection or dispersal. Translocated male adders dispersed farther and had larger home range sizes than resident conspecifics. Some male adders undertook large unidirectional migrations back to the donor site crossing areas of unsuitable habitat as they did so. A population of slow-worms persisted at an isolated site two decades after translocation, albeit in relatively small numbers. Body condition improved over 20 years and the population resumed breeding and recruitment. The temporary penning of viviparous lizards was effective in preventing post-release dispersal and resulted in an increase in recapture rates of greater than 16 times when compared to unpenned viviparous lizard populations. The fact that no lizards were recaptured in the unpenned areas provides strong evidence for the effect of post-release dispersal. Although, mitigation translocations may prevent the immediate death of animals that would otherwise be destroyed with their habitat, there is little evidence that they are compensating for the loss of populations on a broad scale

The influence of waves on morphodynamic impacts of energy extraction at a tidal stream turbine site in the Pentland Firth

Extraction of energy from tidal streams has the potential to impact on the morphodynamics of areas such as sub-tidal sandbanks via alteration of hydrodynamics. Marine sediment transport is forced by both wave and tidal currents. Past work on tidal stream turbine impacts has largely ignored the contribution of waves. Here, a fully coupled hydrodynamic, spectral wave and sediment transport model is used to assess the importance of including waves in simulations of turbine impact on seabed morphodynamics. Assessment of this is important due to the additional expense of including waves in simulations. Focus is given to a sandbank in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth. It is found that inclusion of wave action alters hydrodynamics, although extent of alteration is dependant of wave direction. Magnitude of sediment transport is increased when waves are included in the simulations and this has implications for morphological and volumetric changes. Volumetric changes are substantially increased when wave action is included: the impact of including waves is greater than the impact of including tidal stream turbines. Therefore it is recommended that at tidal turbine array sites exposed to large swell or wind-seas, waves should be considered for inclusion in simulations of physical impact