Urban storage heat flux variability explored using satellite, meteorological and geodata

The storage heat flux (ΔQS) is the net flow of heat stored within a volume that may include the air, trees, buildings and ground. Given the difficulty of measurement of this important and large flux in urban areas, we explore the use of Earth Observation (EO) data. EO surface temperatures are used with ground-based meteorological forcing, urban morphology, land cover and land use information to estimate spatial variations of ΔQS in urban areas using the Element Surface Temperature Method (ESTM). First, we evaluate ESTM for four “simpler” surfaces. These have good agreement with observed values. ESTM coupled to SUEWS (an urban land surface model) is applied to three European cities (Basel, Heraklion, London), allowing EO data to enhance the exploration of the spatial variability in ΔQS. The impervious surfaces (paved and buildings) contribute most to ΔQS. Building wall area seems to explain variation of ΔQS most consistently. As the paved fraction increases up to 0.4, there is a clear increase in ΔQS. With a larger paved fraction, the fraction of buildings and wall area is lower which reduces the high values of ΔQS

Machining and grinding of ultrahigh-strength steels and stainless steel alloys

Machining and grinding of ultrahigh-strength steels and stainless steel alloy

Anthropogenic Heat Flux Estimation from Space: Results of the first phase of the URBANFLUXES Project

H2020-Space project URBANFLUXES (URBan ANthrpogenic heat FLUX from Earth observation Satellites) investigates the potential of Copernicus Sentinels to retrieve anthropogenic heat flux, as a key component of the Urban Energy Budget (UEB). URBANFLUXES advances the current knowledge of the impacts of UEB fluxes on urban heat island and consequently on energy consumption in cities. This will lead to the development of tools and strategies to mitigate these effects, improving thermal comfort and energy efficiency. In URBANFLUXES, the anthropogenic heat flux is estimated as a residual of UEB. Therefore, the rest UEB components, namely, the net all-wave radiation, the net change in heat storage and the turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes are independently estimated from Earth Observation (EO), whereas the advection term is included in the error of the anthropogenic heat flux estimation from the UEB closure. The project exploits Sentinels observations, which provide improved data quality, coverage and revisit times and increase the value of EO data for scientific work and future emerging applications. These observations can reveal novel scientific insights for the detection and monitoring of the spatial distribution of the urban energy budget fluxes in cities, thereby generating new EO opportunities. URBANFLUXES thus exploits the European capacity for space-borne observations to enable the development of operational services in the field of urban environmental monitoring and energy efficiency in cities. H2020-Space project URBANFLUXES (URBan ANthrpogenic heat FLUX from Earth observation Satellites)investigates the potential of Copernicus Sentinels to retrieve anthropogenic heat flux, as a key component of the UrbanEnergy Budget (UEB). URBANFLUXES advances the current knowledge of the impacts of UEB fluxes on urban heatisland and consequently on energy consumption in cities. This will lead to the development of tools and strategies tomitigate these effects, improving thermal comfort and energy efficiency. In URBANFLUXES, the anthropogenic heatflux is estimated as a residual of UEB. Therefore, the rest UEB components, namely, the net all-wave radiation, the netchange in heat storage and the turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes are independently estimated from EarthObservation (EO), whereas the advection term is included in the error of the anthropogenic heat flux estimation from theUEB closure. The project exploits Sentinels observations, which provide improved data quality, coverage and revisittimes and increase the value of EO data for scientific work and future emerging applications. These observations canreveal novel scientific insights for the detection and monitoring of the spatial distribution of the urban energy budgetfluxes in cities, thereby generating new EO opportunities. URBANFLUXES thus exploits the European capacity forspace-borne observations to enable the development of operational services in the field of urban environmentalmonitoring and energy efficiency in cities

Urban Multi-scale Environmental Predictor (UMEP) : An integrated tool for city-based climate services

UMEP (Urban Multi-scale Environmental Predictor), a city-based climate service tool, combines models and tools essential for climate simulations. Applications are presented to illustrate UMEP's potential in the identification of heat waves and cold waves; the impact of green infrastructure on runoff; the effects of buildings on human thermal stress; solar energy production; and the impact of human activities on heat emissions. UMEP has broad utility for applications related to outdoor thermal comfort, wind, urban energy consumption and climate change mitigation. It includes tools to enable users to input atmospheric and surface data from multiple sources, to characterise the urban environment, to prepare meteorological data for use in cities, to undertake simulations and consider scenarios, and to compare and visualise different combinations of climate indicators. An open-source tool, UMEP is designed to be easily updated as new data and tools are developed, and to be accessible to researchers, decision-makers and practitioners. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

The impact of emotional well-being on long-term recovery and survival in physical illness: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis synthesized studies on emotional well-being as predictor of the prognosis of physical illness, while in addition evaluating the impact of putative moderators, namely constructs of well-being, health-related outcome, year of publication, follow-up time and methodological quality of the included studies. The search in reference lists and electronic databases (Medline and PsycInfo) identified 17 eligible studies examining the impact of general well-being, positive affect and life satisfaction on recovery and survival in physically ill patients. Meta-analytically combining these studies revealed a Likelihood Ratio of 1.14, indicating a small but significant effect. Higher levels of emotional well-being are beneficial for recovery and survival in physically ill patients. The findings show that emotional well-being predicts long-term prognosis of physical illness. This suggests that enhancement of emotional well-being may improve the prognosis of physical illness, which should be investigated by future research

Total synthesis of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloid clivonine

Two syntheses of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloid clivonine (1) are described. Both employ previously reported 7-arylhydrindane 6 as an intermediate but differ in the method employed for subsequent introduction of what becomes the ring-B lactone carbonyl carbon (C7). The synthesis featuring a Bischler–Napieralski reaction for this transformation constitutes the first asymmetric synthesis of natural (+)-clivonine. Crystal structures for compounds (±)-13, (±)-16, (−)-20 and (±)-28 are also reported

Quality of life in patients with chronic alveolar hypoventilation

Measurements of health-related quality of life (HRQL) have not been reported in patients with chronic alveolar hypoventilation (CAH) before starting home mechanical ventilation. The purpose of this study was to investigate quality of life in a population of such patients. Forty-four consecutive patients with CAH due to previous polio, scoliosis, healed pulmonary tuberculosis or neuromuscular disease answered a battery of condition specific and generic (Sickness Impact Profile, Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, Mood Adjective Check List) self-report questionnaires. Spirometry, arterial blood gases and overnight oxygen saturation were measured. Patients with untreated CAH had significantly impaired HRQL compared to historical data from a healthy reference population. Sleep-related problems were frequent. Age, underlying disease, and standard bicarbonate correlated significantly with HRQL measures, albeit with modest levels of explained variance (8-37%). Patients with chronic alveolar hypoventilation due to neuromuscular or restrictive chest wall disorders had severely impaired health-related quality of life. Age, the underlying disease and severity of hypoventilation are each related to the health-related quality of life decrements. Health-related quality of life measurements add important information to traditional clinical observations