Monitoring results of two examples of building integrated PV (BIPV) systems in the UK

This paper presents monitoring results of two examples of building integrated PV system investigated at the School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham in the UK. One of the systems is installed on an educational building, and consists of a thin film PV façade appropriate for commercial or office suites. The other system is installed on a detached house, and uses crystalline PV roof slates, appropriate for domestic buildings. As the two buildings are significantly different in size, construction and occupancy, the design and selection of the PV system for each was also different. The monitoring investigation has assisted identification of shortfalls in performance and possible explanations have been suggested. The results presented in this paper provide information on the design process, and highlight similarities and differences in the design, installation, performance and economics of the two systems.     

Cost effect of earthquake region and soil type for office buildings in Turkey

In this study, the change in the load-bearing system cost of a reinforced concrete office building has been investigated in relation to the earthquake regions and soil types. Three different office projects each with five stories were investigated. The structural design calculations have been made according to four different soil types and four different earthquake regions. According to each combination, concrete, steel and formwork adopted approximations were calculated to reach the rough cost of each office building. The changes in the cost of projects according to the soil type and earthquake region were examined with multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance. In general, the change in cost has been observed around 22% between first and fourth soil type and 14% between first and fourth earthquake region.     

Edge Stress Intensity Functions in Polyhedral Domains and their Extraction by a Quasidual Function Method

The solution to elastic isotropic problems in three-dimensional (3-D) polyhedral domains in the vicinity of an edge is provided in an explicit form. It involves a family of eigen-functions with their shadows, and the associated edge stress intensity functions (ESIFs), which are functions along the edges. Utilizing the explicit structure of the solution in the vicinity of the edge we use the quasidual function method, recently presented in [Omer et al. (2004). International Journal of Fracture 129:97–130] for scalar elliptic problems and in [Costabel et al. (2004). SIAM Journal of Mathematical Analysis 35(5), 1177–1202] in a general theoretical framework, for the extraction of ESIFs. This method provides a polynomial approximation of the ESIF along the edge whose order is adaptively increased so to approximate the exact ESIF. It is implemented as a post-solution operation in conjunction with the p-version finite element method. Numerical examples are provided in which we extract ESIFs associated with traction free or homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions in 3-D cracked domains or 3-D V-Notched domains. These demonstrate the efficiency, robustness and high accuracy of the proposed quasi-dual function method.     

Computer Simulation of Fe-Al-Si System Diffusion Couples

Diffusion couples, Fe-6.8 wt% Al-1.0 wt% Si/Fe and Fe-6.3 wt% Al-0.9 wt% Si/Fe were constructed and separately annealed at 1050°C for 3 h and at 1000°C for 64 h. The concentration profiles of Fe, Al and Si atoms in these couples were measured by electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), while the diffusion behavior was also simulated by coupling thermodynamic and kinetic properties of Fe-Al-Si system. The simulation results were in good agreement with the measured concentration profiles showing the validity of dynamic parameters of Fe-Al-Si system. Calculation was made for Fe-7 wt% Al-1 wt% Si/Fe diffusion couples at 1000?C with different diffusion time. Silicon uphill was found under the influence of aluminum.     

Second law-based thermodynamic analysis of water-lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system

In this study, the first and the second law of thermodynamics are used to analyze the performance of a single-stage water-lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system (ARS) when some working parameters are varied. A mathematical model based on the exergy method is introduced to evaluate the system performance, exergy loss of each component and total exergy loss of all the system components. Parameters connected with performance of the cycle–circulation ratio (CR), coefficient of performance (COP), Carnot coefficient of performance (COP_c), exergetic efficiency (ξ) and efficiency ratio (τ)–are calculated from the thermodynamic properties of the working fluids at various operating conditions. Using the developed model, the effect of main system temperatures on the performance parameters of the system, irreversibilities in the thermal process and non-dimensional exergy loss of each component are analyzed in detail. The results show that the performance of the ARS increases with increasing generator and evaporator temperatures, but decreases with increasing condenser and absorber temperatures. Exergy losses in the expansion valves, pump and heat exchangers, especially refrigerant heat exchanger, are small compared to other components. The highest exergy loss occurs in the generator regardless of operating conditions, which therefore makes the generator the most important component of the cycle.     

梁之歌

北地里,千宅万户的屋梁受尽风欺雪压犹自温柔地抱着一团小小的燕巢。这是最温情的守候。人世间,千秋万代的屋梁穷尽一生之力,默默擎起身下各异的居所。这是最无私的担当。可古往今来,自喻有情的世人皆赞梁间燕,梁     

Narrative empathy.

Therapeutic empathy is described as an active narrative process, in which the therapist attempts to construe and express the inner emotional logic of the client's problem patterns. The empathic narrative is contrasted to the external narrative, which describes the client from the outside and the client's behavior as making sense from the point of view of the theory rather than from that of the client's. The criterion of an empathic narrative is that it elicits from the client the response "That's me!" The external narrative, in distinction, fails to elicit this self-recognition. The persistent rejection of the therapist's formulations by the client and the ensuing state of therapeutic impasse is interpreted as being often due to the therapist's assumption that the client should accept an external narrative as if it were an empathic one. When such a situation develops, the therapist may overcome the impasse by acknowledging the externality of the previous therapeutic narrative and proposing a potentially empathic one in its stead. Three case examples of a 49-yr-old married woman, a teenage girl, and 28-yr-old single male are presented to demonstrate narrative empathy within the therapeutic context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term psychotherapy and the rise of the life-sketch.

The life-sketch is a highly condensed psychobiography designed to focus and shorten therapy that has recently emerged at different points across the spectrum of therapeutic approaches. It reflects a growing view of psychotherapy as a re-narration of the client's life story. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Lowry test: A simple status-free measure of intellectual ability.

The validity of an intelligence test is discussed. "The Lowry Reasoning Test Combination has been found to be relatively free of social status bias and to measure intellectual function. It is easily administered and simply scored and does not depend upon a high level of verbal ability. Variance in concept difficulty is obtained by altering combinations of constructs while keeping the verbal material on a uniformly simple level. Whereever such a discriminative and effective selection device is needed the present writers would recommend that the Lowry test be tried." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model for the transverse strain response of unidirectional ceramic matrix composites during tensile testing

A comprehensive micromechanical model relating the longitudinal stress and transverse strain of unidirectional fibre toughened ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) is presented. The model uses different cylindrical unit-cells to describe the composite throughout a tensile test and considers all relevant damage mechanisms. The proposed model takes into account the Poisson contraction of fibre and matrix, the relief of thermal residual stresses upon damage development, and the build-up of compressive radial stresses at the interface due to mismatch between fibre and matrix after debonding and sliding. Thus the modelled transverse strain response depends on a wide range of microstructural and micromechanical parameters. The approach is checked by comparing the experimentally observed and simulated response of a unidirectional SiC/CAS composite of which all constituent properties were determined experimentally. The agreement between experiment and theory is excellent.