A comparative study of the energetic performance of climate adaptive facades compared to static facade design in a Mediterranean climate

Energy-efficient design of building façades has so far predominantly been confined to static rigid forms. Recently however, attempts have been made to design environmentally responsive façades, hereby called Climate Adaptive Façades. These have the potential to better address the occupant's requirements, while also reducing energy demand. The present paper focuses on adaptable glazed façades, in a Mediterranean climate. It investigates the simulated energy performance of three types of climate-responsive façades that could be retrofitted to an existing glazed façade, in the process comparing the results to using comparable static façades solutions. Modelling dynamic façades is not an easy task and currently no single building performance simulation package appears to be capable of completely modelling the behaviour of these façades. For this reason a number of simulation packages had to be used to determine the energy demand required to achieve comfortable indoor thermal and lighting conditions. Through the results obtained, it was possible to compare energy demand of a dual-façade design approach, dynamic vs. static, thus identifying general trends. The results also highlight the fact that in order to improve over the predicted performance further studies using specialised tools capable of modelling such novel technologies are required.peer-reviewe

Design and Flight Demonstration Test of a Continuous Descent Approach Procedure for Louisville International Airport

A design methodology based on the principles of system analysis was used to design a noise abatement approach procedure for Louisville International Airport. In a flight demonstration test, this procedure was shown to reduce the noise at seven locations along the flight path by 3.9 to 6.5 dBA and reduce the fuel consumed during approach by 400 to 500 lbs. The noise reduction is significant given that a 3-decibel difference represents a 50% reduction in acoustic energy and is noticeable to the human ear, and the 7% reduction in the size of the 50 DNL contour that would result if all aircraft were to perform the procedure. The fuel saving is also significant given the financial benefit to airlines and the accompanying reduction in gaseous and particulate emissions. While the analysis of aircraft performance data showed how pilot delay, in combination with auto-throttle and flight management system logic, can result in deviations from the desired trajectory, the results confirm that near-term implementation of this advanced noise abatement procedure is possible. The results also provide ample motivation for proposed pilot cueing solutions and low-noise guidance features in flight management systems

Effect of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria during infancy on serological responses to measles and other vaccines used in the Expanded Programme on Immunization: results from five randomised controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Intermittent preventive treatment for malaria during infancy (IPTi) is the administration of a full therapeutic course of antimalarial drugs to infants living in settings where malaria is endemic, at the time of routine vaccination in the first year of life. We investigated whether IPTi with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine or other antimalarial drug combinations adversely affected serological responses to vaccines used in the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). METHODS: The study was done in a subset of children enrolled in five randomised controlled trials in Navrongo, Ghana; Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Manhica, Mozambique; Kisumu, Kenya; and Bungoma, Kenya. All infants presenting for the second dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination (given at 8-10 weeks of age) were eligible, and analyses included all children who had received measles vaccination (at 9 months of age) and at least one dose of IPTi or placebo. Blood samples were collected before and after vaccination, and antibody titres were measured by plaque reduction neutralisation (measles, yellow fever), microneutralisation (polio serotypes 1 and 3), and ELISA (all other EPI antigens). Laboratory personnel were unaware of the randomisation groups. We compared the proportion of infants in the IPTi and placebo groups who did not attain protective antibody titres after vaccination, using a one-sided significance non-inferiority margin of 5% for measles (the primary endpoint) and 10% for other EPI antigens. FINDINGS: Between September, 2000, and May, 2008, 8416 children were enrolled in the five studies. Paired samples from 2368 children from sites where sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine was compared with placebo were analysed for measles antibodies. 464 children with detectable measles antibody in their sample before vaccination were excluded, leaving 1904 individuals (934 placebo and 970 sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine) in the study. IPTi with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine did not have a clinically significant effect on immune responses to measles vaccine; 61 of 970 (6·3%) children who received IPTi did not develop a protective antibody response after measles vaccination compared with 60 of 934 (6·4%) who received placebo, a difference of -0·14% (95% CI -2·3 to 2·1). When other antimalarial drugs were used for IPTi the results were much the same. Among 2396 children from whom serological response data for other EPI antigens were available, we identified no evidence of an adverse effect of IPTi with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine or other antimalarial drugs on the proportion achieving protective antibody concentrations. INTERPRETATION: IPTi with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine does not affect serological responses to EPI vaccines. This analysis, therefore, supports the WHO recommendation for coadministration of IPTi with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine to infants at the time of the second and third doses of DTP and measles vaccination, in areas of sub-Saharan Africa with moderate to high malaria transmission and where malaria parasites are sensitive to these drugs. It also suggests that treatment of clinical malaria at or around the time of vaccination does not compromise vaccine responsiveness. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The influence of photovoltaics on roof thermal performance - an analysis of convective heat transfer coefficients

In a Mediterranean climate, given the absence of snow, flat roofs are typical of both vernacular and modern architecture. Thermal mass, cross ventilation and night time cooling are standard passive design aids that inhibit indoor temperature build-up on hot summer days. Such flat roofs provide a golden opportunity for free-orientation of PV (photovoltaic) panels, unlike pitched roofs. There is established scientific evidence that their presence on flat roofs also helps curtail surface temperatures of the heavy mass structure, by means of (i) solar shading and (ii) convective cooling at given angles. Both factors in turn lower the convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) of the roof structure, thus inhibiting early seasonal temperature build-up. This contributes to lower cooling loads, thus reducing both the carbon footprint of the building as well as lowering energy costs for the owners. Such a holistic contribution is deemed to uphold the social, environmental and economic challenges of today. This study purports to do just that. Through CFD (computational fluid dynamics) this study investigates the effect of flow fields over a typical flat roof building mass in a free field for a range of wind velocities. Results indicate that for a higher wind speed, the convective cooling is more significant than at lower wind speeds. This will in turn influence the elemental U-value of the roof structure, thus reducing cooling loads indoors.peer-reviewe

An intervention modelling experiment to change GP's intentions to implement evidence-based practice : using theory-based interventions to promote GP management of upper respiratory tract infection without prescribing antibiotics #2

Background: Psychological theories of behaviour may provide a framework to guide the design of interventions to change professional behaviour. Behaviour change interventions, designed using psychological theory and targeting important motivational beliefs, were experimentally evaluated for effects on the behavioural intention and simulated behaviour of GPs in the management of uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Methods: The design was a 2 × 2 factorial randomised controlled trial. A postal questionnaire was developed based on three theories of human behaviour: Theory of Planned Behaviour; Social Cognitive Theory and Operant Learning Theory. The beliefs and attitudes of GPs regarding the management of URTI without antibiotics and rates of prescribing on eight patient scenarios were measured at baseline and post-intervention. Two theory-based interventions, a "graded task" with "action planning" and a "persuasive communication", were incorporated into the post-intervention questionnaire. Trial groups were compared using co-variate analyses. Results: Post-intervention questionnaires were returned for 340/397 (86%) GPs who responded to the baseline survey. Each intervention had a significant effect on its targeted behavioural belief: compared to those not receiving the intervention GPs completing Intervention 1 reported stronger self-efficacy scores (Beta = 1.41, 95% CI: 0.64 to 2.25) and GPs completing Intervention 2 had more positive anticipated consequences scores (Beta = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.46 to 1.98). Intervention 2 had a significant effect on intention (Beta = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.41 to 1.38) and simulated behaviour (Beta = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.74). Conclusion: GPs' intended management of URTI was significantly influenced by their confidence in their ability to manage URTI without antibiotics and the consequences they anticipated as a result of doing so. Two targeted behaviour change interventions differentially affected these beliefs. One intervention also significantly enhanced GPs' intentions not to prescribe antibiotics for URTI and resulted in lower rates of prescribing on patient scenarios compared to a control group. The theoretical frameworks utilised provide a scientific rationale for understanding how and why the interventions had these effects, improving the reproducibility and generalisability of these findings and offering a sound basis for an intervention in a "real world" trial. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00376142This study is funded by the European Commission Research Directorate as part of a multi-partner program: Research Based Education and Quality Improvement (ReBEQI): A Framework and tools to develop effective quality improvement programs in European healthcare. (Proposal No: QLRT-2001-00657)

Multimodal reference in dialogue : towards a balanced corpus

Generation of Referring Expressions (GRE), e.g., Dale and Reiter (1995), is one of the core tasks of Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems. Usually it is formulated as an identification problem: given a domain representing entities and their properties, construct a referring expression for a target referent or set of target referents which singles it out from its distractors. Recently, researchers in this area have turned their attention to multimodal referring acts, in particular, the interaction between the two modalities of pointing and describing – e.g., Kranstedt et al. (2006), Piwek (2007), and Van der Sluis and Krahmer (2007). Additionally, psycholinguistic work is increasingly investigating the conditions governing the use of pointing gestures as part of referring acts in dialogue, opposed to monologue. Here, we present the design of an experiment on multimodal reference in two-party dialogue. The purpose of the experiment is to create a corpus that can inform the development of multimodal GRE algorithms.peer-reviewe

Engineering adaptive user interfaces using monitoring-oriented programming

User interfaces which adapt based on usage patterns, for example based on frequency of use of certain features, have been proposed as a means of limiting the complexity of the user interface without specialising it unnecessarily to particular user profiles. However, from a software engineering perspective, adaptive user interfaces pose a challenge in code structuring, and separation of the different layers of user interface and application state and logic can introduce interdependencies which make software development and maintenance more challenging. In this paper we explore the use of monitoring-oriented programming to add adaptive features to user interfaces, an approach which has been touted as a means of separating certain layers of logic from the main system. We evaluate the approach both using standard software engineering measures and also through a user acceptance experiment - by having a number of developers use the proposed approach to add adaptation logic to an existing application.peer-reviewe

Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 7, Revision 5 (FGE.07Rev5) : saturated and unsaturated aliphatic secondary alcohols, ketones and esters of secondary alcohols and saturated linear or branched‐chain carboxylic acids from chemical group 5

Acknowledgements: The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on Flavourings: Ulla Beckman Sundh, Leon Brimer, Karl-Heinz Engel, Paul Fowler, Rainer Gürtler, Trine Husøy, Wim Mennes and Gerard Mulder for the preparatory work on this scientific opinion and the Working Group on Genotoxicity: Mona-Lise Binderup, Claudia Bolognesi, Riccardo Crebelli, Rainer Gürtler, Francesca Marcon, Daniel Marzin and Pasquale Mosesso for the preparatory work on this scientific opinion and the hearing experts: Vibe Beltoft and Karin Nørby, and EFSA staff: Maria Anastassiadou, Maria Carfi and Annamaria Rossi for the support provided to this scientific opinion.Publisher PD

Safety assessment of the process ‘Veroniki Ecogrup SRL’, based on Starlinger Decon technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 302 (FGE.302): N-(2-methylcyclohexyl)-2,3,4,5,6-pentafluoro-benzamide from Chemical Group 30

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