“Green Pockets” as Microclimate Modifiers in UK Urban Schools

The rapid densification of many UK cities poses significant pressure on the design of schools within inner city centres. London’s air quality has been associated to increased mortality, and pollution and noise levels have exceeded acceptable standards. As a consequence, most schools are mechanically ventilated and have little or no contact with the outdoors, with detrimental effects for the physical and mental development of students (Charles, 2015). This study investigates the possibility of improving the design of usually neglected and underexploited outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces within urban learning environments in order to convert these spaces into microclimatic modifiers and natural air filters. The research focused on the integration of green spaces into three different environments: outdoor courtyard, semi-outdoor break-out space and indoor classroom. The findings of the analysis and design implementations indicate that the positive microclimatic effect of the green courtyard can be successfully used to achieve thermal comfort in semi-outdoor and indoor spaces throughout the year while improving visual comfort and air quality

Statistical characterization of the 2.45 GHz propagation channel aboard trains

The propagation channel aboard trains is investigated with reference to the propagation path loss within cars, the delay spread and the coherence bandwidth. Results show that the path loss exponent is slightly smaller than in free space, possibly due to reflections by metal walls, and that it does not depend significantly on the position of transmitter and receiver. The delay spread and coherence bandwidth depend on both the polarization and distance between transmitter and receiver while the effect of interaction is not statistically significant. The best fit for both delay spread\u2019s and coherence bandwidth\u2019s experimental distribution is also investigated. Results show that it does not always match models suggested in the literature and that the fit changes with the values of the input parameters. Finally, the functional law between coherence bandwidth and delay spread is determined. Results typically match expectations although the specific measurement configuration effects the model parameters

The anomalous warming of summer 2003 in the surface layer of the Central Ligurian Sea (Western Mediterranean)

"Meteorological and sea temperature data from the ODAS Italia 1 buoy (Ligurian Sea, Western Mediterranean) are used to study the anomalous warming of summer 2003 at sea. The event was related to the record heat wave that interested much of Europe from June to September of that year. The data show that the anomalous warming was prevalently confined to within a few meters below the sea surface. On the contrary, the temperatures in the underlying layers were lower than usual. The limited vertical propagation of heat is ascribed to the high temperature difference that arose between the surface and the deeper layers due to protracted calm weather conditions. The degree of penetration of heat deduced from the observations is consistent with that computed on the basis of an energetic argument, wherein the wind constitutes the sole supply of kinetic energy, while the heating is viewed as the source of potential energy that must be ""subtracted"" by mixing. The results support the hypothesis that the scanty energy from the wind is mainly responsible for the development of the temperature anomaly at the sea surface.

Influence on Learning Efficiency from natural light in Educational Environment

This paper presents preliminary research outcomes from applying EEG Mind Wave Mapping methodology for investigating the impacts of learning environment on students' concentration and learning performance under different lighting conditions. During the learning process, whether students remain attentive generally influences their learning efficacy. Literature shows that classroom lighting may be important for pupils' academic performance. However, most of the time, lighting could not be adequately controlled due to the given building envelope design and the spatial layout. The present study explores the influence of different lighting conditions in a conditioned room on architectural students' mind wave when they were engaging in a learning task. Lighting scenarios included naturally lit, artificially lit and hybrid mode set in this room were experimented and the test scores of the learning tasks under these scenarios were compared against mind wave mapping results . The preliminary findings from this study showed that students’ performance in a natural daylit and hybrid lit room shows higher concentration than that in the artificially lit room, as a result, the use of natural light in the learning environment is more desirable and this can have significant benefit for reducing energy demands from artificial lighting in educational spaces

02/10/1995 - Hightlights Of The Week Ahead.pdf

Previous results indicate that fibers in ribbons are sometimes affected by systematic birefringence superimposed on the random one, their relative weights depending on fiber position in the ribbon. We report new theoretical and experimental results on stress distribution in ribbons, which is shown to depend on thermal and mechanical properties of the common coating. Numerical simulations are based on the theory of elasticity and the finite-element method (FEM). Polarization dispersion measurements vs. temperature match very well with numerical results, and indicate that central fibers in the ribbon exhibit significantly larger birefringence than lateral ones

Tackling Fuel Poverty in London

The challenge of economic and health inequalities caused by fuel poverty are rooted in the rise in fuel costs which have strong implications affecting the cost of living. Fuel costs and rising inflation due to economic and political reasons threaten individuals and families who are already struggling financially, putting them in/at risk of fuel poverty. The UK is one of the first countries to define the challenge of households living in fuel poverty prompting necessary actions, policies and interventions. This study presents the results of an empirical investigation following direct enquires to the Greater London Authority (GLA) and all of London boroughs via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on retrofit interventions, including an overview of financial incentives and planning assessments with an aim to increase the number of home energy upgrades since April 2021. London adopted its own action plan in 2018 to renew its focus and alleviate more than 350,000 households in fuel poverty (GLA, 2018). The assessment and indicator for fuel poverty has changed over time, from the Low Income High Cost (LIHC) to Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) indicator in 2021. However, identifying households in fuel poverty remains challenging and some indicators are somewhat disconnected from what is happening on the ground. The findings suggest that there is a need to establish tools and methodologies that are connected to the national and local context. Fuel poverty is affecting people’s health and well-being, particularly those already facing socio-economic and health inequalities. After the COVID pandemic, a political awareness of fuel poverty is found in the Mayoral manifesto, however the Fuel Poverty Action Plan does not have binding targets and is not regularly updated. Current Fuel Poverty Partnership Tasks are focusing on awareness and communication or the urgent support to households already affected, but not in tackling the root causes of fuel poverty in upgrading fuel poor homes. The uptake on retrofits from 2021 is still low and far from reaching 100k homes and the net zero target in 2030 is approaching fast. The study concludes that while LILEE is decreasing other indicators are increasing with rising energy prices. The London Building Stock Model is not widely used by boroughs, and it only maps the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating which is not sufficient to identify households in fuel poverty. Most schemes such as Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) do not specifically target fuel poverty but have a wider scope of retrofit towards net zero. The Mayor of London should explore a new indicator tool by crossing data from LBSM with socio-economic data to identify fuel poor households more accurately. The indicator could potentially include geographical location, building typology (age, etc), socio-economic / demographics, leading to action plan and retrofit strategies

Upper layer current variability in the Central Ligurian Sea

Abstract. Long-time series of surface currents and meteorological parameters were analysed to estimate the variability of the upper layer circulation and the response to the local winds. Current meter data were collected by an upward-looking RDI Sentinel 300 kHz ADCP deployed in the Central Ligurian Sea (43°47.77' N; 9°02.85' E) near the meteo-oceanographic buoy ODAS Italia 1 for more than eight months, from 13th of September 2003 to 24th of May 2004. The ADCP sampled the upper 50 m of water column at 8 m vertical resolution and 1 h time interval; surface marine and atmospheric hourly averaged data were provided by the buoy. Currents in the sampled layer were mainly barotropic, directed North-West in accordance with the general circulation of the area, and had a mean velocity of about 18 cm/s and hourly mean peaks up to 80 cm/s. Most of the observed variability in the upper thermocline was determined by inertial currents and mesoscale activity due to the presence of the Ligurian Front. Local wind had a minor role in the near-surface circulation but induced internal waves propagating downward in the water column

A Decentralized and Proactive Architecture based on the Cyber Physical System Paradigm for Smart Transmission Grids Modelling, Monitoring and Control

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