A theoretical adaptive model of thermal comfort – Adaptive Predicted Mean Vote (aPMV)

This paper presents in detail a theoretical adaptive model of thermal comfort based on the “Black Box” theory, taking into account factors such as culture, climate, social, psychological and behavioural adaptations, which have an impact on the senses used to detect thermal comfort. The model is called the Adaptive Predicted Mean Vote (aPMV) model. The aPMV model explains, by applying the cybernetics concept, the phenomena that the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is greater than the Actual Mean Vote (AMV) in free-running buildings, which has been revealed by many researchers in field studies. An Adaptive coefficient (λ) representing the adaptive factors that affect the sense of thermal comfort has been proposed. The empirical coefficients in warm and cool conditions for the Chongqing area in China have been derived by applying the least square method to the monitored onsite environmental data and the thermal comfort survey results.     

Thermo-economic optimization of rooftop unit’s evaporator coil for energy efficiency and thermal comfort

In this paper, the optimization-simulation approach is proposed to investigate energy saving potential of an air-cooled direct expansion rooftop package air conditioning system by refining the model of the HVAC system components and deriving optimal configuration for evaporator coil subject to technical constraints. In this method the frontal area of the evaporator coil is maintained as constant and the variation of other geometrical parameters on the thermal and economical performance of the system is investigated. An actual air-cooled rooftop package of a real-world commercial building in hot and dry climate conditions is used for experimental data collection. Both inputs and outputs are measured from the field monitoring in two summer weeks. Based on the mathematical models and using collected data, modules incorporating the proposed optimal redesign procedure were embedded in a transient simulation tool. A mixed heuristic- deterministic optimization algorithm was implemented in the transient tool to determine the synthesis and design variables that influence the cost and energy efficiency of each configuration. Available experimental results were compared to predicted results to validate the model. Afterwards, the computer model was used to predict how changes in cooling coil geometry would affect the building thermal comfort, the cost and energy consumption of the system.     

Evaluation of natural illumination and thermal comfort conditions in the Ribeirao Preto’s Technological Village

The results of post-occupancy surveys of the 11 different construction systems used in the dwellings of the Technological Village of Ribeirao Preto are analyzed. The analyses focus on evaluating the natural illumination and thermal comfort conditions in selected habitation units after 2 years of use. All systems were devised to provide living conditions to low-income families with low purchasing power and, most importantly, to disseminate construction technologies adapted to, and appropriate for, this specific region of the country. The results indicate that the methodology employed is not appropriate using only classical factors to assess the illumination conditions, i.e. illuminance level and daylight factor, for a direct quantification of the illumination. The isolated use of these factors can result in distortions. The evaluation of the environmental conditions is relevant to observe that there can be differences between theoretical thermo-physical properties and actual features of the materials and construction systems analyzed.     

Occupants’ impact on indoor thermal comfort: a co-simulation study on stochastic control of solar shades

This paper investigates the impact of manually operated solar shades on indoor thermal comfort. A developed stochastic model for manual solar shades was modelled in Building Controls Virtual Test Bed, which was coupled with EnergyPlus for co-simulation. Movable solar shades were compared with two unshaded windows (clear double-pane and low-e double-pane). Two objective indices (room base temperature and transmitted solar radiation) and one subjective index (modified predicted mean vote (PMV) index (PMVrad) that considers solar radiation on the human body) were used to evaluate the indoor thermal performance. Results show that external solar shades achieve the best performance in terms of all three indices, especially for PMVrad, hours of comfortable conditions are higher than unshaded windows by 20.6–37.3%. Despite achieving relatively high performance, solar shades are operated infrequently and for about 30% of work time they are not adjusted appropriately, leading to a decrease in indoor thermal comfort.     

“Bonum”: the degree of a universal scale for the comfort metric

The recent concept of biological tolerance proposed in the technical literature for the man–environment interactions makes possible a dimensional transformation of the involved quantities to obtain quantities all homogeneous among them.In the present work, a metric for these transformed quantities is proposed. Hence it is possible to achieve the advantage of having only one metric in studying each kind of interaction.The new scale appears to be a useful instrument in studying together different sensorial interactions and in comparing different algorithms that refer to the same objective quantities.     

Planning for play: seventy years of ineffective public policy? The example of Glasgow,Scotland

This paper looks at the planning and provision of outdoor play spaces for children over a seventy-year period since the Second World War. Using Glasgow as a case study, the paper examines whether and how research on families and children living in flats has been used to inform national and local planning policies in this area, and in turn how well policy is converted into practice and provision on the ground. The paper considers these issues in four time periods: the period of post-war reconstruction from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, when large amounts of social housing was built; the period of decline and residualization of social housing in the 1970s and 1980s; the 1990s and 2000s when several attempts were made to regenerate social housing estates; and the last five years, during which time the Scottish Government has developed a number of policies concerning children’s health and physical activity. Planning policy in Glasgow appears to have been ineffective across several decades. Issues such as a weak link between research and policy recommendations, unresolved tensions between a number of policy options, and a lack of political priority afforded to the needs to children are identified as contributory factors.     

Thirty years of action for energy efficiency in buildings: what are the results?

In the autumn of 1973 a first energy crisis swept over the industrialized world. In 1979 a second followed. The first reactions in the West reflected panic, but soon a correcting policy emerged with rational use of energy as one of the corner stones. From the beginning, buildings got special attention. Their share in the annual national end energy consumption, in fact, was unexpectedly high, while less consumption of highly valued energy sources looked affordable without jeopardizing building usability. On the contrary, better was possible with less. One may expect that three decennia later, the results of such policy should be visible in terms of less energy consumed in buildings. This is not the case, at least not in Flanders, Belgium. Many reasons explain that anomaly. The average principal, designer, builder and contractor is not interested in energy efficiency. Investment costs and not future annual costs are the main concern. Legislation has been introduced reflecting a far too optimistic view on citizenship and thus, without any enforcement policy. The housing and tertiary building stock still expands, with a clear prosperity‐linked trend towards detached dwellings with low compactness and large floor area. Urban planning remains business as usual. And finally, policy makers forgot to consider rebound effects and the impact of lazy workmanship when predicting the efficiency of fabric and building services related measures, resulting in an overestimation of future avoided energy use, while at the same time they underestimated the inertia of such large system as the existing building stock, given the low retrofit and substitution rate.     

Size distributions for all cities: Which one is best?

This paper analyses four statistical distributions used to describe city size distributions: lognormal, double Pareto lognormal, q-exponential, and log-logistic. We use un-truncated city size data for the US, Spain and Italy from 1900 until 2010, and, in addition, the last available year for the remaining countries of the OECD. We estimate the four functions by maximum likelihood. To check the goodness of the fit we use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cramér-von Mises tests, and compute the Akaike information criterion and Bayesian information criterion. The results show that the distribution which best fits data in most of the cases (86.76%) is the double Pareto lognormal.     

Vertical relationships in China’s electricity industry: The quest for competition?

In this paper we revisit the debate on the role of vertical integration in the energy sectors: whether vertical integration between coal and electricity sectors is a path to create a competitive electricity market in China. We discuss coal-power conflict and potential anti-competitive concerns related to vertical integration, such as raise rival’s cost and collusion, and suggest that regulators and policy makers should pay more attention to the behavior of integrated companies. In particular, they should balance the tradeoff of vertical integration between coal and electricity companies and ensure that efficiency gains should offset anti-competitive effects.     

The competitive landscape of China’s telecommunications industry: Is there a need for further regulatory reform?

This paper evaluates the current regulatory status of China’s telecommunications industry in relation to China’s antimonopoly enforcement. It analyzes the difference of telecoms reform models in OECD countries and China, and highlights the important role of independent regulation, in particular given the concern about administrative monopolies in China’s telecoms industry. It questions the effectiveness of the new antimonopoly law alone in promoting telecoms competition by addressing three major issues in the sector: administrative monopoly, market competition and ownership. In conclusion, it suggests the need for further regulatory reform and calls for formal empirical research to provide more compelling evidence.     

Determination of bioclimatic comfort in Erzurum–Rize expressway corridor using GIS

In this study, topographical and climatical conditions are prescinded all along Erzurum–Rize expressway corridors to appoint the areas which have bioclimatic comfort in summer season (June, July, August). For this purpose, the climate data (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed) from nine different stations was entered in the digital data base. By dint of ArcGIS 9.1 software, climatic data were analysed and numerological maps were produced by Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method. As a method, bioclimatically comfortable areas consists of: relative humidity between 30 and 65%, temperature between 15 and 20 °C, and wind speed up to 5 m/s. The maps were scored as 0 for uncomfortable and 1 for comfortable and superposed, and bioclimatic comfort area (temperature: 1–relative humidity: 1–wind speed: 1) were determined. Besides, topographic factors were appreciated. As a result of this study, it is concerned that the area (452749 ha. % 63); beginning from south of the Mountains Mescit which is started by Black Sea coastline to Mountain Mescit (3230 m) is out of bioclimatic comfort region; the Erzurum depression (1758 m) beginning from the Mountains Mescit has been determined that area has bioclimatic comfort conditions. As a consequence, it is confirmed that one of the ideal area which has bioclimatic comfort is the Erzurum depression area in Turkey.     

Adaptive thermal comfort in the residential buildings of north east India—An effect of difference in elevation

Thermal comfort standards are required not only to ensure good indoor climatic condition, but also to optimize the energy used in a building for heating or cooling purposes. Generally, Fanger’s Predicted Mean Vote–Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PMV–PPD) model is used by designers and architects to estimate the comfort condition and hence the setpoint temperature inside a building. However, the recent field survey based studies on adaptive thermal comfort suggests that the above used PMV model frequently either underestimates or overestimates the thermal sensation due to the non-inclusion of the adaptive opportunities that a subject may have in maintaining comfortable condition. This leads to often an estimation of higher or lower setpoint temperature than that actually required for maintaining comfort, thereby consuming higher energy. The aim of the research is to study the effect of difference in elevation which is a major factor for temperature difference in hilly terrain, on the thermal comfort of residents. We conducted a field survey in 6 residential buildings at two different elevations in the Darjeeling Himalayan Region of north east India. A total of 1017 questionnaires regarding the indoor occupant thermal comfort were collected from 46 subjects during the monthly survey held in the year 2015. Variations in clothing insulation and other thermal comfort parameters were seen both with difference in elevation and with outdoor environmental conditions.     

Futurescapes of urban regeneration: ten years of design for the unfolding urban legacy of London’s Olympic Games, 2008–2018

ABSTRACT

Much of the literature on the urban legacy of the 2012 Olympics Games emerging in recent years has emphasized the form that development has taken and the ways in which this aligns (or not) with specific promises made in terms of regeneration before the Games. Though plenty of discussion of planning procedure has occurred in this context, less emphasis has been placed on how the process, rather than the products, of urban change has been envisioned through legacy planning and urban design, and the significance of this for regeneration. Given that London’s much-heralded ‘regeneration legacy’ was, from the early days of the Olympic bid, portrayed as a long-term process aimed at addressing historical issues of socio-economic disparity in East London, and that planning and urban design would play key roles in anticipating it, this contribution to the literature is timely. The paper focuses on the period from 2008 to 2018, beginning with the launch of the what was called the Legacy Masterplan Framework. Drawing on empirical analysis of documents describing the main stages of legacy planning and design between these years, it then examines how regeneration as a ‘futurescape’ encompassing numerous aspects of timing and temporality has been anticipated, planned and evolved.     

‘Vanishing cities’: Can urban costs explain deindustrialization?

Anas's impossibility theorem states that monopolistic competition or economies of scale alone are insufficient to explain growth of cities in response to growing population or decreasing trade costs (under constant urban costs); cities shrink. To enhance realism of assumptions, instead of Anas's normative approach, we study stable equilibria in the presence of another sector. Still, ‘vanishing’ remains robust! Ultimately, we argue that ‘vanishing’ mechanism looks realistic and can have an explanatory power: industries, free of externalities, should locate in small towns. Moreover, the comparative statics shows how such ‘manufacturing’ towns gradually decline, whereas other cities do not.     

How free of tobacco smoke are ‘smoke‐free’ homes?

The risks of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) are well established and 'harm reduction' strategies such as smoking outside to protect infants and children from exposure to ETS have been advocated for some time. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of self-reported smoking levels in residential settings. The participants were families (n = 92) randomly selected from lower socioeconomic areas of Perth, Western Australia. Each household was monitored for vapor phase nicotine and particulates with an aerodynamic diameter of < or = 10 microm (PM(10)). Of the 42% (39) households who reported that someone smoked cigarettes at home, only four (4%) said that smoking occurred inside the house. There was a 'moderate' agreement between parental-reported tobacco smoking and levels of nicotine (kappa = 0.55, P < 0.01). There were significant differences in the median levels of air nicotine (P < 0.01) and PM(10) (P < 0.05) between households in which smoking was reported as only occurring outside, and the smoke-free households. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study outcome suggests that a strategy based on the separation of children and smoking activity is inadequate to protect the former from ETS at home, and that health professionals should give parents unambiguous advice to give up smoking in order to make their homes a completely smoke-free environment.     

Fantasies of development and housing provision for all? Revisiting urbanization issues in Swaziland

Conclusion Generally, Swaziland’s stagnant rural economy has contributed to increasing rates of urbanization in Swaziland. In the case of Swaziland, urbanization has been fuelled even more by economic growth, though fluctuating depending on the nature of South Africa’s economic climate. One interpretation of this relationship between rural degradation, growing rural-urban migration and economic development is that for many Swazi people, a life in the city becomes a necessity rather than an option. However, as an indicator of development, housing provision has not met the demands of a growing urban labour force. One of the greatest challenges that the government of Swaziland faces today is therefore to take cognizance of the fact that as long as the rural economy remains unsustainable, the land question remains unresolved, the exodus to the burgeoning center of Manzini and the surrounding areas of the Matsapha industrial site continues, the demand for adequate, affordable housing will continue to rise and the notion of development and housing provision for all will continue to be no more than a fantasy. Already the urgency to establish townships and provide more low-income housing and the need to stimulate the housing industry and provide better services has been acknowledged. A number of studies and recommendations are underway. However as Sihlongonyane (undated paper) aptly remarks, although the housing policy, urban government act, institutions for service provision all together form a broader framework of the national development strategy which aims to correct urban-related problems, as long as development challenges faces Swaziland’s cities remain inextricably linked to (inefficient) traditional central planning systems, the way forward will be difficult to traverse.     

A House of Prayer for all Peoples? The Unique Case of Somerville College Chapel,Oxford

Multifaith buildings have become common in Europe, North America, and much of the world, but they have yet to receive sufficient scholarly attention in the history of religious ideas, or in the theory of material religion. This paper begins to address this lacuna by the consideration of an early, but little known, multifaith chapel donated to Somerville College Oxford in the 1930s, which is unique within Oxford University. Its history, architecture, and artworks give valuable insights into the religious, intellectual, and cultural roots of what would subsequently become a global norm. The chapel can be seen as both a manifestation of the aspirations of liberal Christianity in the interwar years, including the advancement of women and ecumenism, and of the contestation of the role of religion in higher education among elites in the same period. Examining the case of Somerville chapel contributes to the theory of religion by considering how unbelief and multifaith ideas may be attempted to be materially expressed, and how this physical presence subsequently may impact on institutions and people through ongoing contestation, and negotiated use.     

Accounting for the linkages of agriculture in Hawaii‘s economy with an input-output model: A final demand-based approach

. Agriculture is not a large contributor to Hawaii‘s economy but despite the recent decline in the sugar industry it is an important sector in terms of its contribution to food supply, income, and employment. Agriculture influences the economy as it procures production inputs from and provides inputs to other sectors in the economy. A theoretically sound input-output framework is suggested for investigating the interdependence between agricultural and other sectors of the economy. This paper also provides a review and identifies shortcomings of other approaches used in estimating the industry‘s contributions to the economy. The non-agricultural final demands accounted for about 20% of total agricultural output, value added, labor income, and employment. The indirect contribution of agricultural final demands and related distribution services to other sectors constituted about 20% of total output and labor income, 22% of value added, and 16% of total employment generated by agricultural final demands and related trade and distribution services. Received: October 1997/Accepted: Febuary 1998     

Advanced fuzzy logic controllers design and evaluation for buildings’ occupants thermal–visual comfort and indoor air quality satisfaction

The aim of this paper is to present and evaluate control strategies for adjustment and preservation of air quality, thermal and visual comfort for buildings’ occupants while, simultaneously, energy consumption reduction is achieved. Fuzzy PID, fuzzy PD and adaptive fuzzy PD control methods are applied. The inputs to any controller are: the PMV index affecting thermal comfort, the CO₂ concentration affecting indoor air quality and the illuminance level affecting visual comfort. The adaptive fuzzy PD controller adapts the inputs and outputs scaling factors and is based on a second order reference model. More specifically, the scaling factors are modified according to a sigmoid type function, in such a way that the measured variable to be as closer as possible to the reference model. The adaptive fuzzy PD controller is compared to a non-adaptive fuzzy PD and to an ON–OFF one. The comparison criteria are the energy required and the controlled variables response. Both, energy consumption and variables responses are improved if the adaptive fuzzy PD type controller is used. The buildings’ response to the control signals has been simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK.     

What’s in a name: Project or programme?

The common conception of programme management as an extension or variant of project management, and therefore endowed with the same rationalist, instrumental underpinnings, is reviewed and questioned. In particular, the implications of labelling are highlighted, and the limitations for practice of conflated or poorly differentiated conceptions or models of project management and programme management are discussed. The central argument of this paper is that a distinct programme management model, grounded in a view of social reality as continually constructed through the actions and interactions of individuals - a becoming or related social constructionist ontology - provides an alternative way of shaping and undertaking change initiatives. Such a programme management model, when practised by reflective, context sensitive and value/ethically aware practitioners, can co-exist with and complement traditional project management approaches within an organisation.