Life course building epidemiology: An alternative approach to the collection and analysis of carbon emission data

Developing policy for the reduction of the carbon emissions due to buildings requires models for energy usage that incorporate social, behavioural, and environmental factors in addition to the physical properties and technical specifications of the buildings. Marked parallels exist with some of the more intractable public health issues, such as rising levels of obesity. Recently, health researchers have recognized the importance of taking a broader life-course approach to epidemiology in order to examine the degree that long-term health outcomes are set in early life and the extent that these may be mediated or mitigated by subsequent growth and development, as well as by intervention strategies. Life course epidemiology as applied in building science, where energy usage is treated as analogous to poor health outcomes, provides an alternative approach for the construction of causal models that allow for complex interactions between social and technical factors as well as long term effects. It can provide a useful framework for the successful management and analysis of longitudinal studies and may prove particularly effective in identifying the type, timing, and targeting of intervention strategies to produce optimal outcomes in terms of absolute reductions of carbon emissions and resilience of building performance to external stresses, such as those imposed by climate change. An example based on a study in Milton Keynes (London), which is currently in progress, is used to illustrate the way causal models may help elucidate the complex interactions between factors that influence energy usage

Milton Keynes Park Revisited: changes in internal temperatures

27-30 April 2006 The Carbon Reduction in Buildings project has undertaken a pilot longitudinal survey based on a study of 160 ‘low-energy’ homes in 1989 in Milton Keynes Energy Park. In that study, a sub-sample of 29 dwellings was monitored on an hourly basis for internal temperature for the living room and main bedroom over 2 years. The follow up study has been in progress since 2005 and consists of 15 dwellings from the original detailed survey. Findings include that under an average daily external temperature of 5 ºC, internal temperatures were predicted from regression analysis to be 20.1ºC (95%CI:19.7, 20.5) for the living room in 2005 and 19.5 ºC (95 %CI:19.1, 19.9) for the bedroom. This was not significantly different from the 1990 baseline study, except for main bedroom evening temperatures (6pm-11pm) which were found to have decreased by -1.3°C (95%CI -2.4, 0.08; p-value 0.04). This may be indicative of higher ventilation rates since almost all participants in 2005 reported opening bedroom windows through winter

Thermal modelling of highly glazed spaces.

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX196694 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Forty Years of Fellowships: A Study of Orchestras' Efforts to Include African American and Latino Musicians

This report, commissioned by the League of American Orchestras, is the first systematic effort to review the record of those fellowships from the perspectives of the orchestras and the musicians who have participated in them. Until now there has been no single source for information about which orchestras conducted fellowships, when they were conducted, and how many musicians were fellows. This report answers important questions about what happened to fellows across all the programs after their fellowships were completed: Did they successfully compete for orchestra jobs? Did their careers take other paths? It also provides a view of their experiences as fellows: How did they benefit from the experience? What kinds of problems did they experience? Until now, no data has been collected that reflects the judgment of orchestra leaders and other experts about the dynamics of launching and managing a fellowship program. Through the frame of these fellowship programs, what can be learned about broader diversity issues for orchestras? For the first time, we are able to present the following information and analysis:* The first section of this report, "Forty Years of Fellowships," presents all available program and impact data relating to orchestra fellowships, from 1976 to the present day. It reflects documentation supplied by orchestras themselves, following a scoping survey of League members, and the results of supplemental web research. It identifies the orchestras that have had fellowships, counts the fellows, and reviews the elements that are characteristic of fellowship programs. It defines the fundamental characteristics of fellowship programs, notes three different basic models, tracks career outcomes for fellows, and explores the cost and financing of fellowship programs.* The second section, "Forty Years of Fellows," explores the perspectives of musicians who have been fellows over the years. Interviews with 21 fellowship program alumni were conducted, including one or more fellows from every fellowship program.* The third section, "Fellowship/Leadership: Voices of Experience," examines the perspectives of orchestra leaders, program managers, and a few outside experts as they reflect on the dynamics of fellowship programs, their value for orchestras, and the place of fellowships within the larger challenge of making orchestras more inclusive and diverse institutions

Curtis\u27s botanical magazine.

v.93=ser.3:v.23 (1867) [no.5618-5682

Impact of climate change on newly detached residential buildings in the UK passive mitigation and adaptation strategies

The global increase in demand for dwelling energy and implications of changing climatic conditions on buildings require the built environment to build sustainable dwellings. The aim of this thesis is to apply passive mitigation and adaptation design strategies to newly detached residential buildings in the UK with the view to identify the key building envelop and systems parameters to secure the right balance of energy consumption and thermal comfort in dwellings. In addition, currently, acceptable robust validation process for validating space temperatures is required, as existing simulation software validation is geared toward energy consumption. The thesis further aims to apply an effective validation method to the validation of building simulation indoor temperatures. This thesis comprised of six case studies. In the first study, Bland-Altman’s method of comparison is used as a validation technique in validating space temperatures in building simulation application. This is a newly developed knowledge in civil and construction engineering research in validating thermal analysis simulation software. The relevance of this approach is due to the emergent understanding that the goodness of fit measures used in current building simulation model validation are inadequate coupled with that fact that the current simulation software validation are geared toward energy consumption. In the second study, global Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis is performed on two differing weather patterns of UKCIP02 and UKCP09 weather data sets to compare their impact on future thermal performance of dwellings when use in thermal analysis simulation. The investigation seeks to ascertain the influential weather parameters which affect future dwelling indoor temperatures. The case study when compared to literature affirms the mean radiant temperature and the dry bulb air temperature as the key parameters which influence operative temperatures in dwellings. The third study, the extent of impact of climate change on key building performance parameters in a free running residential building is quantified. The key findings from this study were that the average percentage decrease for the annual energy consumption was predicted to be 2.80, 6.60 and 10.56 for 2020s, 2050s and 2080s time lines respectively. A similar declining trend in the case of annual natural gas consumption was 4.24, 9.98 and 16.1, and that for building emission rate and heating demand were 2.27, 5.49 and 8.72 and 7.82, 18.43 and 29.46 respectively. This decline is in consonance with the range of annual average temperature change predicted by the GCM based on the IPCC scenarios (IPCC, 2001) which generally shows an increase in temperature over stipulated timelines. The study further showed that future predicted temperature rise might necessitate the increasing use of cooling systems in residential buildings. The introduction of cooling to offset overheating risk, the trend of heating and cooling demand shows progressive increase variability with an average percentage increase of 0.53, 4.68 and 8.12 for 2020s, 2050s and 2080s timelines respectively. It is therefore observed that the introduction of cooling cancels out the energy gains related to heating due to future climatic variability. The fourth, fifth and sixth case studies consider the integrated passive mitigation strategies of varying future climatic conditions, variable occupant behaviour, building orientation, adequate provision of thermal mass, advance glazing, appropriate ventilation and sufficient level of external shading which influence the potential thermal performance of dwellings and a methodology that combines thermal analysis modelling and simulation coupled with the application of CIBSE TM52 adaptive overheating criteria to investigate the thermal comfort and energy balance of dwellings and habitable conservatories. In the fourth study, the impact of four standardized construction specifications on thermal comfort on detached dwellings in London, Birmingham and Glasgow are considered. The results revealed that the prime factor for the variation of indoor temperatures is the variability of climatic patterns. In addition, London is observed to experience more risk of thermal discomfort than Birmingham and Glasgow over the time period for the analysis. The total number of zones failing 2 or 3 CIBSE TM52 overheating criteria is more in London than in Birmingham and Glasgow. It was also observed that progressive increase in thermal mass of the standardized construction specifications decrease the indoor temperature swings but increase in future operative temperatures. The day ventilation scenario was seen not to be effective way of mitigating internal heat gains in London and Birmingham. The opposite was observed in Glasgow. Night ventilation coupled with shading offered the best mitigation strategy in reducing indoor temperatures in London and Birmingham. In the fifth study, Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis is used to determine the impact of standard construction specifications and UKCP09 London weather files on thermal comfort in residential buildings. Consideration of London urban heat island effect in the CIBSE TM49 weather files leading to the generation of three different weather data sets for London is analysed. The key findings of the study indicated that in the uncertainty analysis (box and whiskers plots), the medians for the day ventilation scenarios are generally higher than those of the night ventilation and further higher than the night ventilation with shading scenarios. This shows that applying mitigation scenarios of night ventilation and shading have a significant impact on reducing internal operative temperatures. In addition, the sensitivity analysis shows glazing as the most dominant parameter in enhancing thermal comfort. The sensitivity of glazing to thermal comfort increases from Gatwick, with London Weather Centre having the highest sensitivity index. This could be attributed to the urban heat island effect of central London, leading to higher internal operative temperatures. The study thus shows that more consideration should be given to glazing and internal heat gains than floor and wall construction when seeking to improve the thermal comfort of dwellings. Finally, the sixth study considers the use of passive solar design of conservatories as a viable solution of reducing energy consumption, enhancing thermal comfort and mitigating climate change. The results show that the judicious integration of the passive solar design strategies in conservatories with increasing conservatory size in elongated south facing orientation with an aspect ratio of at least 1.67 could progressively decrease annual energy consumption (by 5 kWh/m2), building emission rate (by 2.0 KgCO2/m2) and annual gas consumption (by 7 kWh/m2) when the conservatory is neither heated nor air-conditioned. Moreover, the CIBSE TM52 overheating analysis showed that the provision of optimum ventilation strategy depending on the period of the year coupled with the efficient design of awnings/overhangs and the provision of external adjustable shading on the east and west facades of the conservatory could significantly enhance the thermal comfort of conservatories. The findings from these case studies indicate that thermal comfort in dwellings can be enhanced by analysis of future climatic patterns, improved building fabric and provision of passive design consideration of improved ventilation and shading. They also confirm that the utilization of appropriate mitigation strategies to enhance thermal comfort could contribute to the reduction of the environmental implications to the built environment and facilitate the drive towards the attainment of future sustainability requirements

Intrapersonal skills and music performance in elementary piano students in spanish conservatories: Three case studies

This study is based on the premise that emotional skills—comprised of an intrapersonal dimension and an interpersonal dimension—help to achieve personal balance, which in turn can enhance performance. Following from this premise, the improvement of music students’ emotional skills might have a positive effect on their musical performance. The recognized relationship between music and emotion therefore suggests that music education is a suitable context for developing emotional skills. The article examines the relationship between intrapersonal skills and the musical performance of elementary students studying the piano in a Spanish conservatory. The research was developed as an action research process and involved the study of three 10-year-old students. A set of activities were designed specifically for students attending the third course of piano studies; these activities were intended to develop students’ intrapersonal skills throughout the school year and were implemented in the subjects of piano and ensemble playing in parallel with the musical tasks. The relationship between intrapersonal skills and musical performance is investigated and discussed for each of the three cases

EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL AND ACOUSTICAL COMPETENCES OF VOCATIONAL MUSIC EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN TERMS OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF MUSIC EDUCATION

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the buildings of higher education institutions in Turkey, where vocational music education is delivered, in terms of physical and acoustical sufficiency. This research is a descriptive study conducted with qualitative method and survey model. The population of the research consists of all of the buildings of the higher education institutions in Turkey, where vocational music education is delivered. Data of the research have been collected through semi-structured interview from instructions who serve in a total of 85 different higher education programs in Turkey, where vocational music education activities are conducted. It was determined in line with the collected data that there are important deficiencies in the buildings of the university institutions in Turkey in terms of both physical and acoustical sufficiency, where vocational music education is delivered. On the other hand, only 14% of the instructors stated that the institutional buildings meet the acoustical needs required by vocational music education. In conclusion, this study tries to make suggestions for the solution of the detected problems in order to create a certain standard in physical and acoustical aspects in the buildings of higher education institutions, where vocational music education is delivered

Inclusion of students with special educational needs at the state music conservatory: teachers’ perspective

The present study was carried out in a State Conservatory of Music of Minas Gerais, in the city of Uberaba-MG, using a qualitative approach. The objective was to identify the challenges experienced by teachers in teaching music to students with special educational needs. Due to a demand presented by the institution regarding the problems experienced by teachers in school inclusion in music teaching, five focus groups were held with teachers, with data recorded in digital media, transcribed and analyzed based on the theme of analysis and content. Thus, we obtained the results classified in seven categories: (1) students with clinical conditions; (2) organization of classrooms; (3) being a teacher of a student with special educational needs; (4) teacher education and training; (5) methodologies of music classes; (6) inclusion - laws versus practice; and (7) support from family and colleagues. It was noticed the need for training and specialization of teachers and the lack of support offered by the state and the institution for the effective practice of inclusion. Then, further studies are suggested on the subject of training professionals about the inclusion of students with special educational needs in music education, in order to expand a cultural discussion about accessibility in these spaces of musical training.O presente estudo foi realizado em um Conservatório Estadual de Música de Minas Gerais, na cidade de Uberaba-MG, utilizando uma abordagem qualitativa. O objetivo foi identificar os desafios vivenciados pelos professores no ensino de música para alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais. Devido a uma demanda apresentada pela instituição acerca das problemáticas vivenciadas pelos professores na inclusão escolar no ensino da música, foram realizados cinco grupos focais com os professores, sendo os dados gravados em mídia digital, transcritos e analisados a partir da temática de análise e conteúdo. Dessa forma, obtivemos os resultados classificados em sete categorias: (1) alunos com condições clínicas; (2) organização das salas de aulas; (3) ser professor de aluno com necessidades educacionais especiais; (4) formação e capacitação dos professores; (5) metodologias das aulas de música; (6) inclusão – leis versus prática; e (7) apoio da família e colegas. Percebeu-se a necessidade de formação e especialização dos professores e a carência de apoios oferecidos pelo estado e pela instituição para a prática efetiva da inclusão. Sugerem-se assim novos estudos acerca da temática de formação dos profissionais acerca da inclusão de alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais na educação musical, de forma que ampliem uma discussão cultural sobre a acessibilidade nesses espaços de formação musical

Buildings for low energy air conditioning

Over half of global warming is thought to be attributable to the burning of fossil fuelsand slightly less than half of this is due to conditioning the environment withinbuildings. Since the UK government is committed to reducing carbon dioxideemissions by 20% between the years1990 and 2010, the pressure to improve theenergy efficiency of our building stock is likely to increase in the coming years.Field studies have identified that, on average, fuel costs for air conditioned buildingsare twice that of naturally ventilated buildings and result in twice the CO2 emissions1.Air conditioning is therefore often thought of as an environmental evil byenvironmentalists with calls to ban it. Air conditioning protagonists argue that airconditioning provides for a better environment within buildings and only accounts for6% of CO2 emissions in commercial and public buildings (i.e. 1% of total UK CO2emissions).This chapter explores some of the issues that can impact on the design of energyefficient air-conditioned buildings. The arguments presented in this chapter are basedon research carried out at the Bartlett, University College London (UCL) and on theauthors? experience of running the Department of Trade and Industry funded EnergyDesign Advice Scheme (EDAS) office based at UCL. EDAS provides free advice toany building professional involved in the design and/or commissioning of a newbuilding or refurbishment of an existing building. The office based at the Bartlett hasbeen involved in providing advice on over 700 projects with predicted cumulativeenergy savings for the scheme as a whole of £15 million per annum