Combating overheating: mixed-mode conditioning for workplace comfort

ABSTRACT

Using post-occupancy evaluations of seven mixed-mode buildings – three in Australia and four in India – this paper demonstrates that effective mixed-mode conditioning (instead of year-round air-conditioning) can deliver comfortable workspaces. Occupant feedback reinforces strong associations between overheating, thermal comfort, overall comfort and perceived productivity. However, differing levels of thermal acceptability within and between the Australian and Indian contexts are evident. Occupants in the Indian buildings were found to tolerate a wider range of temperatures when compared with Western contexts where lower temperature limits entrench an energy demand through a greater reliance on air-conditioning. The outcomes from the study suggest that the perception of overheating and consequent risk to building performance can be intensified when occupants perceive limited adaptive opportunity or problems are not rectified quickly, whereas perceived control is less important where building systems are user responsive. Occupants in three of the study buildings also perceived higher-than-anticipated comfort which could be attributable to well-liked attributes, such as break-out spaces, daylight and fresh air included in these buildings. The findings challenge designers and clients to develop user-responsive climate interactive workplaces that capitalize on spatial and mixed-mode environmental control to tackle the question of overheating.     

First record of Platygaster luteipes Buhl (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) from leaf galls on black pepper along with first report of the species from India.

Platygaster luteipes Buhl (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) is reported for the first time from India. Several specimens of both sexes of the species were reared from the globular galls on mature leaves of black pepper. The hitherto undescribed male of the species is characterized and illustrated.     

Everyday resistance: exposing the complexities of participatory slum-upgrading projects in Nagpur

Abstract

This paper exposes practices of informal, everyday resistance by slum-dwellers against the implementation of large-scale public housing projects in India. During the last few decades, various large-scale urban projects have been implemented in order to redevelop Indian cities. In these projects, the emphasis is on community participation. By focusing on the local level, we scrutinize how these projects are put into practice. Specifically, we look at how two slum communities react, contest and protest against the implementation of a large-scale public housing project. Using two case studies in Nagpur under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor—an overarching, nation-wide slum-upgrading scheme—this paper explores how standardized, participatory large-scale housing projects often clash with social realities on the ground, which results in various forms of everyday resistance and protest.     

Debris slides of Varandh Ghat, west coast of India

 On 28 June 1994 when 240 mm of rainfall occurred, a huge debris slide took place at Parmachi village in the Varandh Ghat of the Konkan district on the west coast of India. The debris slide resulted in extensive damage to property and killed 20 people in addition to numerous animals. The slide is considered to have occurred due to the development of hydrostatic pressure at the base of colluvial material, such that slope failure took place at the rock/soil interface. In view of the significance of such slides to settlements and highways, it is proposed that a warning system is developed based on a rainfall threshold of 170 mm in a 24-hour period. Received: 21 February 1997 · Accepted: 5 January 1998     

Analysis of groundwater quality using fuzzy synthetic evaluation

This paper reports the application of fuzzy set theory for decision-making in the assessment of physico-chemical quality of groundwater for drinking purposes. Methodology based on fuzzy set theory used to express the quality of water in the imprecise environment of monitored data and prescribed limits given in a non-probabilistic sense. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation model gives the certainty levels for the acceptability of the water based on the prescribed limit of various regulatory bodies quality class and perception of the experts from the field of drinking water quality. Application of fuzzy rule based optimization model is illustrated with 42 groundwater samples collected from the 15 villages of Ateli block of southern Haryana, India. These samples were analysed for 16 different physico-chemical water quality parameters. Ten parameters were used for the quality assessment using this approach. The analysis showed that four samples were in "desirable" category with certainty level of 35-58%, 23 samples were in "acceptable" category whose certainty level ranged from 37 to 75% and remaining 15 samples were in "not acceptable" category for drinking purposes with certainty levels from 44 to 100%. This concludes that about 64% water sources were either in "desirable" or "acceptable" category for drinking purposes.     

印度共和国金矿资源及其地质特征

印度金矿类型主要有4种：绿岩型、砾岩型、砂金及伴生金矿,具有分布广、相对集中、规模小、品位低及埋深较大等特点。绿岩型金矿是印度最重要的金矿类型,集中分布在南印度克拉通和印度中央克拉通的前寒武系绿岩带中。南部东塔尔瓦尔克拉通的科拉尔金矿和胡蒂金矿是典型的绿岩型金矿,其中,科拉尔金矿金平均品位为16 g/t,黄金储量>1 000 t,属于超大型金矿床;胡蒂金矿金平均品位为4.85 g/t,黄金储量>150 t,属于大型金矿床。印度金矿探明储量十分有限,但大量较小规模金矿广泛分布在印度克拉通绿岩带,预示印度金矿具有很好的资源潜力。增加印度金矿勘探和开发投入,将发现更多具有重要价值的金矿资源,也可能彻底改变印度金矿的现状。     

Chemical characterisation of CTC black tea of northeast India: correlation of quality parameters with tea tasters' evaluation

BACKGROUND: Consumers have different regional perceptions of tea quality. Objective evaluation based on biochemical data for different regions has been needed for a long time. Biochemical factors regulating this variation would help to remove regional disparities. This study was undertaken on CTC (crust, tear and curl) black tea to generate the biochemical data responsible for quality along with tea tasters' evaluation of three geographical regions of northeast India and to determine the reason for the variation. RESULTS: Brahmaputra valley teas had highest theaflavin (TF), thearubigin (TR), brightness (BR) and total colour (TC) and low crude fibre content (CFC) and total polyphenol (TPP). Brahmaputra valley and Dooars region teas showed high total soluble solid (TSS). Barak valley teas had highest CFC and low TSS, caffeine (CA), TF, TR and TC. Dooars region teas had high CA and TPP and low BR. Dooars region and Barak valley teas contained higher levels of residual catechin than Brahmaputra valley teas. CONCLUSION: Overall quality as evaluated by tea tasters was found to be highest for Brahmaputra valley teas followed by Dooars region and Barak valley teas. This high evaluation can be attributed to higher levels of TF, TR, BR and TSS. Barak valley and Dooars region teas contained high residual catechin, indicating limitation in oxidation during processing. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

后配额时代中印纺织品出口比较与借鉴

虽然从2005年1月1日起,全球纺织品进入后配额时代,但我国纺织品出口在接连遭到发达、欠发达国家的强烈抵制和限制的同时．也同样面临来自一些与我国发展水平相似国家的纺织品出口的竞争。作为我国纺织品出口最大潜在竞争对手的印度,其纺织品出口自上世纪80年代开始,连续多年保持高速增长,来自国外的抵制和限制也没有我国突出。因此,印度的纺织品生产经验和出口战略值得关注。     

中印丝绸贸易现状与前景分析

近年来,中国与印度丝绸贸易实现快速增长,但两国间的丝绸贸易环境有进一步恶化的趋势.通过对中印丝绸贸易规模、产品结构、市场结构进行实证研究,分析影响中印丝绸贸易增长的因素,提出了稳定发展中国丝绸对外贸易的建议.     

Returning Genius to the Place

Advocates of sustainable design since the early 1990s, HOK are intent on disseminating new research, resources and tools across their global design teams. Mary Ann Lazarus , Sustainable Design Director at HOK, and Chip Crawford , Planning Group Director at HOK, describe a particularly innovative project that the two groups have collaborated on with the essential input of the Biomimicry Guild (see p 44). Addressing critical environmental issues at the habitat scale and performance standards, they have developed ecological design tools that have been employed on masterplans for Lavasa, India, and Langfang, China. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.