Enhancing the sustainability and energy conservation in heritage buildings: The case of Nottingham Playhouse

Today, there is a growing interest in developing energy efficient buildings since it is estimated that buildings account for about 40% of the total primary energy consumption in the world. In relation to existing buildings, energy efficiency retrofits have become an important opportunity to upgrade the energy performance of commercial, public and residential buildings that may reduce the energy consumption, demand and cost. In this paper we cover the energy efficiency deep retrofit process that has been carried out for Nottingham Playhouse theatre building for the aim of enhancing its environmental performance and analysing the energy efficiency gained after implementing certain proposed modifications. It is a nationally protected historic building, listed as Grade II1 on The National Heritage List for England (NHLE). The building has had insulation enhancement, doors modifications, solar energy installations, energy-saving lights, in addition to improved heating and air conditioning system. The paper presents a novel methodology; and its results indicate significant improvements in the building's energy performance which is demonstrated using infrared thermographic images and data logger sensors where significant energy savings to the building's thermal performance are obtained. The energy saving measures have been completed while maintaining the heritage building's general appearance and architectural features, which have received a Commendation Certificate from The Nottingham Civic Society for this achievement.     

Improvised layout of keypad entry system for mobile phones

In this paper, we present a critical review of the current layout of alphabets on a mobile keypad and seek to improvise it for optimized text entry to facilitate user interaction with or without the use of predictive text input techniques. Currently, most mobile phones use multi-press as the preferred method of text entry though they also offer word-based disambiguation schemes. However, keypad layouts are not optimized for text entry using word based disambiguation schemes as several matches exist for the same numeric combination, some of which are frequently used words. This scheme effectively slows down text entry speeds, requiring more tapping for disambiguating matches. The proposed model seeks to reduce the number of matches for any possible numeric combinations, by optimization of keypad layout by repositioning alphabets on the keypad. For users not using dictionary, our model requires lesser tapping for commonly used alphabets and groups commonly used key combinations together such as in a computer keyboard.The proposed model was derived by simulation of the mobile phone keypad on a computer system and it uses cognitive agents to derive the most optimum keypad layout. Our model uses frequently used English words from a dictionary and attempts to minimize the number of matches for any given numeric key combinations, though the same could easily be duplicated for other languages. The model is expected to cause a significant rise in the text input speeds of mobile phones and other embedded devices with limited text entry capabilities, leading to better usability and customer satisfaction.     

Stacked Euler vector (SERVE): a gray-tone image feature based on bit-plane augmentation

A new combinatorial feature called stacked Euler vector (SERVE) is introduced to characterize a gray-tone image. SERVE comprises a four-tuple, where each element is an integer representing the Euler number of the partial binary image formed by certain pixel overlap relations among the four most significant bit planes of the gray-tone image. Computation of SERVE is simple, fast, and does not involve any floating point operation. SERVE can be used to augment other features to improve the performance of image retrieval significantly. Experimental results on the COIL database are reported to demonstrate its performance     

Steganalysis using learned denoising kernels

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Steganalysis is the science for detecting steganographic traces in innocent-looking digital media like images, videos, etc. In recent literature, it has been...     

Capillary driven flow in wettability altered microchannel

The capillary driven flow of water inside a microchannel with altered wettabilities is experimentally investigated and modeled theoretically. The surfaces of the PDMS made microchannel are exposed to oxygen plasma, rendering the surfaces increasingly hydrophilic, which provides the driving force for the flow. The plasma treated surfaces are characterized using topography and phase imaging of AFM scanning, as well as nano‐indentation, to correlate the distinct structural changes to the hydrodynamic profiles of the advancing meniscus. The experimental results are further analyzed using a newly proposed slip velocity model. The aim is to obtain a qualitative relationship between the surface properties and the flow parameters, namely the advancing meniscus velocity and pressure drop inside the channel. The insights are of fundamental importance in diverse fields, such as enhanced oil recovery, microfluidic devices, cell separation, and pathology. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4616–4627, 2017     

汽车安全系统设计挑战加大：MEMS惯性传感器保驾护航

MEMS惯性传感器已被广泛用于汽车安全系统中,例如碰撞测试及后续气囊展开的加速计.伴随与日俱增的应用需求,它们所启动的系统变得更为复杂,在信号处理、电源管理、诊断及通讯方面也要应对更大的挑战.本文将介绍这些传感器应用于车辆控制系统的相关整合技术.     

A Convenient Synthesis of β‐Phenylselenocarbonyl Compounds by In‐TMSCl Promoted Cleavage of Diphenyl Diselenide and Subsequent Michael Addition

A simple and convenient procedure has been developed for the synthesis of β‐phenylselenocarbonyl compounds by a one‐pot reaction of diphenyl diselenide and α,β‐unsaturated ketones, aldehydes, esters and nitriles in the presence of indium metal‐trimethylsilyl chloride under sonication. Presumably, the In‐TMSCl reagent system reacts with diphenyl diselenide to form an intermediate, PhSeSiMe₃, which then undergoes Michael addition with the α,β‐unsaturated carbonyl compounds to produce the products.     

A Mixed Finite Element Method for the Biharmonic Problem Using Biorthogonal or Quasi-Biorthogonal Systems

We consider a finite element method based on biorthogonal or quasi-biorthogonal systems for the biharmonic problem. The method is based on the primal mixed finite element method due to Ciarlet and Raviart for the biharmonic equation. Using different finite element spaces for the stream function and vorticity, this approach leads to a formulation only based on the stream function. We prove optimal a priori estimates for both stream function and vorticity, and present numerical results to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach.     

Structural,thermal, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of cenosphere filled polypropylene composites

Polypropylene (PP)/cenosphere based composites were fabricated and characterized for their structural/morphological and mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, impact and dynamic mechanical properties such as storage and loss moduli as a function of temperature. The morphological attributes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) while the thermal characterizations were done by conducting differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphological investigations have revealed a uniformly distributed/dispersed state of the cenosphere in the bulk PP matrix of the composites. The WAXD/DSC studies have revealed a decrease in crystallinity of the composites with increase in cenosphere content. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed an enhancement in the energy dissipation ability of the composite with 10 wt.% of cenosphere and an increase in the storage modulus up to ∼30% in the composites relative to the soft PP-phase. The tensile modulus increased up to ∼43% accompanied by a nominal decrease in tensile strength while the strain at break remained largely unaffected. The impact strength of the composites marginally reduced compared to PP indicating a low-cost material-concept with maximized stiffness–toughness combination. The theoretical modeling of the tensile data revealed appreciable extent of phase-adhesion despite the cenospheres lack any surface modification indicating better extent of mechanical interlocking and surface-compatibility between polymer and filler. Fractured surface morphology indicated that the failure mode of the composites undergoes a switch-over from matrix-controlled shear deformation to filler-controlled quasi-brittle modes above a cenosphere loading of 10 wt.% in the composites.     

Hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of a centrally heated cylindrical enclosure: CFD simulations and experimental measurements

Natural convection in enclosures is of importance in many engineering applications. The stratification arising out of natural convection may be desirable/undesirable depending on applications. In order to control the degree of stratification, understanding of flow pattern and temperature profiles is required. In the present work, transient natural convection in a cylindrical enclosure has been investigated for water with CFD simulations and flow visualization [using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and hot film anemometry (HFA)] over a wide range of parameters namely Rayleigh number (1.08 × 10¹¹ ≤ Ra ≤ 3.76 × 10¹³) and aspect ratio (1 ≤ H/R ≤ 2). The effect of various parameters like pressure, tube diameter and aspect ratio on the extent of stratification has been studied. PIV measurements have been performed to understand the transient flow behavior. Multiple thermocouples were used to measure the temperature profiles. CFD simulations have been performed using SST k–ω model and the results have been compared with the PIV measurements. The CFD simulations have been carried out for 2D axi-symmetric cases and the effect of boundary conditions (free-slip and no-slip) has been investigated. An excellent agreement was found between the CFD predictions and the experimental measurements of flow and temperature patterns. The extent of stratification has been quantified using dimensionless parameters like stratification number and stratification time. The kinetic energy profiles and kinetic energy dissipation profiles show that almost 75% of the enclosure is stratified (after different times depending on Ra number and the aspect ratio). The turbulence parameters were found to weaken with time in the stratified region and these predictions are corroborated with HFA measurements.