Monitoring-Based Commissioning: Tracking the Evolution and Adoption of a Paradigm-Shifting Approach to Retro-Commissioning

Proceedings of the 2012 ACEEE Summer Study (Panel 4, Paper 1130). Monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) emphasizes permanent energy performance metering and trending—for diagnosis of energy waste, for savings accounting, and to enable persistence of savings. Emphasis on monitoring represents a paradigm shift for the retro-commissioning (RCx) industry, which has traditionally relied upon test protocols and modeled savings estimates. Since 2004, a major monitoring-based commissioning program at twenty-five California university campuses has evolved to meet the changing needs of university and utility partners. More recently the monitoring-based approach has been adopted by third-party programs in California. We present information on the progression of program design and results for the multiple phases of the original program, along with a look at third-party and other programs adopting similar program features

Increased security through open source

In this paper we discuss the impact of open source on both the security and transparency of a software system. We focus on the more technical aspects of this issue, combining and extending arguments developed over the years. We stress that our discussion of the problem only applies to software for general purpose computing systems. For embedded systems, where the software usually cannot easily be patched or upgraded, different considerations may apply

Climate change and the Delta, San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science

Anthropogenic climate change amounts to a rapidly approaching, “new” stressor in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta system. In response to California’s extreme natural hydroclimatic variability, complex water-management systems have been developed, even as the Delta’s natural ecosystems have been largely devastated. Climate change is projected to challenge these management and ecological systems in different ways that are characterized by different levels of uncertainty. For example, there is high certainty that climate will warm by about 2°C more (than late-20th-century averages) by mid-century and about 4°C by end of century, if greenhouse-gas emissions continue their current rates of acceleration. Future precipitation changes are much less certain, with as many climate models projecting wetter conditions as drier. However, the same projections agree that precipitation will be more intense when storms do arrive, even as more dry days will separate storms. Warmer temperatures will likely enhance evaporative demands and raise water temperatures. Consequently, climate change is projected to yield both more extreme flood risks and greater drought risks. Sea level rise (SLR) during the 20th century was about 22cm, and is projected to increase by at least 3-fold this century. SLR together with land subsidence threatens the Delta with greater vulnerabilities to inundation and salinity intrusion. Effects on the Delta ecosystem that are traceable to warming include SLR, reduced snowpack, earlier snowmelt and larger storm-driven streamflows, warmer and longer summers, warmer summer water temperatures, and water-quality changes. These changes and their uncertainties will challenge the operations of water projects and uses throughout the Delta’s watershed and delivery areas. Although the effects of climate change on Delta ecosystems may be profound, the end results are difficult to predict, except that native species will fare worse than invaders. Successful preparation for the coming changes will require greater integration of monitoring, modeling, and decision making across time, variables, and space than has been historically normal

A Simulation Study on Multicomponent Lipid Bilayer

Simulation of a multicomponent lipid bilayer having a fixed percentage of cholesterol is done to study phase transition leading to domain formation. The concept of random lattice has been used in simulation to account for the coupling between the internal and translational degrees of freedom of lipid molecules. Considering a canonical ensemble, dissimilar lipid molecules are allowed to exchange their positions in the lattice subject to standard metropolis algorithm. The steps involved in the process effectively takes into account for the movement of sphingolipids and cholesterol molecules helping formation of cholesterol rich domains of saturated lipids as found in natural membranes

Children's Databases - Safety and Privacy

This report describes in detail the policy background, the systems that are being built, the problems with them, and the legal situation in the UK. An appendix looks at Europe, and examines in particular detail how France and Germany have dealt with these issues. Our report concludes with three suggested regulatory action strategies for the Commissioner: one minimal strategy in which he tackles only the clear breaches of the law, one moderate strategy in which he seeks to educate departments and agencies and guide them towards best practice, and finally a vigorous option in which he would seek to bring UK data protection practice in these areas more in line with normal practice in Europe, and indeed with our obligations under European law

Influence of anaerobic and anoxic hydraulic retention time on biological nutrient removal in a membrane bioreactor

Regulation of the discharge of biological nutrients into the environment continues to increase in order to protect sensitive bodies of water. One promising new technology is the membrane bioreactor, which combines the activated sludge process with membrane filtration. The focus of this study was to determine the best anaerobic and anoxic hydraulic retention time (HRT) for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal. A randomized experimental design of fourteen different HRT runs was tested with the anaerobic HRT varying between 0.5 and 3 hours and the anoxic HRT varying between 1 and 5 hours. Essentially complete nitrification was achieved with an average ammonia removal of 98.8 ± 0.2%. Total nitrogen removal varied from a low of 76 ± 1.2% to 88.7 ± 0.3% and showed a positive correlation with increases in anoxic HRT from 1 to 4 hours. High anaerobic HRTs (3 hours) slightly decreased nitrogen removal. Phosphorus removal varied from 40.3 ± 2.2% to 81.7 ± 0.8% and showed strong positive correlation with increases in anaerobic HRT from 0.5 to 2 hours and a negative correlation with increases in anoxic HRT. In general, phosphorus removal appears to be more sensitive to changes in HRT than nitrogen removal. Optimization of the system requires balancing the conflicting needs of higher anoxic HRT for nitrogen removal but negative impact on phosphorus removal and higher anaerobic HRT for phosphorus removal. A prediction model was developed to estimate nitrogen and phosphorus removal given the anaerobic and anoxic HRT. In addition, a study was conducted to determine the influence of various SRTs on biomass phosphorus concentrations and bacterial floc sizes in an aerobic MBR system. Phosphorus uptake by the biomass increased with increased SRT from 10 to 50 days and decreased from 50 to 75 days. This finding has implications for the operation of aerobic MBR systems at high SRTs. A statistical analysis indicated that the bacterial floc diameters were statistically similar from 10 to 50 day SRT and significantly larger for 75 day SRT. The results did not follow the trend of decreasing floc size with increased SRT reported in other studies, although the floc sizes were generally similar to those reported in other studies

INVESTIGATING PHARMACEUTICAL CO-CRYSTALS AS A MEANS TO IMPROVE THE SOLUBILITY OF A DRUG

Recently co-crystals have emerged as a potential approach to improve the solubility, dissolution, and bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Often co-crystal formation is studied in the development stage in order to solve an issue (with solid form or formulation) or to expand intellectual property. However, co-crystals may have the potential of enhancing the developability of a poorly soluble lead candidate in the discovery stage. In this study, piroxicam, a BCS (Biopharmaceutical Classification System) Class II compound with low solubility, was chosen as a model drug to explore this possibility. The solution phase reaction crystallization method was chosen over slow evaporation as a way to make co-crystals because it can produce pure co-crystals that can be scaled by simply using the solubility data of the parent and coformer. A screen of carboxylic acid coformers yielded six piroxicam co-crystals which were characterized. Co-crystal aqueous solubility was measured and models were used to calculate co-crystal pH dependent solubility. Intrinsic dissolution rates of the co-crystals were measured in biorelevant media. Co-crystals were found to be more soluble and the dissolution rates were lower than the parent. Piroxicam oral exposure in rat from the co-crystals was determined and was similar to free piroxicam

Semiclassical charged black holes with a quantized massive scalar field

Semiclassical perturbations to the Reissner-Nordstrom metric caused by the presence of a quantized massive scalar field with arbitrary curvature coupling are found to first order in \epsilon = \hbar/M^2. The DeWitt-Schwinger approximation is used to determine the vacuum stress-energy tensor of the massive scalar field. When the semiclassical perturbation are taken into account, we find extreme black holes will have a charge-to-mass ratio that exceeds unity, as measured at infinity. The effects of the perturbations on the black hole temperature (surface gravity) are studied in detail, with particular emphasis on near extreme ``bare'' states that might become precisely zero temperature ``dressed'' semiclassical black hole states. We find that for minimally or conformally coupled scalar fields there are no zero temperature solutions among the perturbed black holes.Comment: 19 pages; 1 figure; ReVTe

Theoretical calculations and instrument development and test characterization of low intensity X-ray imaging devices

The characteristics of the Lixiscope when excited by X-rays produced by conventional electrically powered X-ray generators are explored to determine the optimum X-ray spectrum and mode of operation of the generator, which yields satisfactory Lixiscope images of medical and industrial specimens