Behaviour change at work: Empowering energy efficiency in the workplace through user-centred design

Copyright @ 2011 University of California eScholarship RepositoryCO2 emissions from non-domestic buildings - primarily workplaces - make up 18 percent of the UK's carbon footprint. A combination of technology advances and behavioural changes have the potential to make significant impact, but interventions have often been planned in ways which do not take into account the needs, levels of understanding and everyday behavioural contexts of building users - and hence do not achieve the hoped-for success.This paper provides a brief introduction to the Empower project, a current industrial-academic collaboration in the UK which is applying methods from user-centred design practice to understand diverse users' needs, priorities, mental models of energy and decision-making heuristics - as well as the affordances available to them - in a number of office buildings. We are developing and trialling a set of low-cost, simple software interventions tailored to multiple user groups with different degrees of agency over their energy use, which seek to influence more energy efficient behaviour at work in areas such as HVAC, lighting and equipment use. The project comprises an ethnographic research phase, a participatory design programme involving building users in the design of interventions, and iterative trials in a large office building in central London

The Ranger 4 Flight Path and Its Determination from Tracking Data

The ranger iv flight path and its determination from tracking dat

Preliminary results of the Mariner IV radio occultation measurements of the upper atmosphere of Mars

Mariner IV radio occultation measurements of Mars upper atmospher

Preliminary results of the Mariner IV OCCULATION measurement of the atmosphere of Mars

Mariner IV radio occultation measurement of Mars atmospher

Feature weighting techniques for CBR in software effort estimation studies: A review and empirical evaluation

Context : Software effort estimation is one of the most important activities in the software development process. Unfortunately, estimates are often substantially wrong. Numerous estimation methods have been proposed including Case-based Reasoning (CBR). In order to improve CBR estimation accuracy, many researchers have proposed feature weighting techniques (FWT). Objective: Our purpose is to systematically review the empirical evidence to determine whether FWT leads to improved predictions. In addition we evaluate these techniques from the perspectives of (i) approach (ii) strengths and weaknesses (iii) performance and (iv) experimental evaluation approach including the data sets used. Method: We conducted a systematic literature review of published, refereed primary studies on FWT (2000-2014). Results: We identified 19 relevant primary studies. These reported a range of different techniques. 17 out of 19 make benchmark comparisons with standard CBR and 16 out of 17 studies report improved accuracy. Using a one-sample sign test this positive impact is significant (p = 0:0003). Conclusion: The actionable conclusion from this study is that our review of all relevant empirical evidence supports the use of FWTs and we recommend that researchers and practitioners give serious consideration to their adoption

Differential Rearing Alters Forced Swim Test Behavior, Fluoxetine Efficacy, and Post-Test Weight Gain in Male Rats

Citation: Arndt, D. L., Peterson, C. J., & Cain, M. E. (2015). Differential Rearing Alters Forced Swim Test Behavior, Fluoxetine Efficacy, and Post-Test Weight Gain in Male Rats. Plos One, 10(7), 21. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131709Environmental factors play a key role in the etiology of depression. The rodent forced swim test (FST) is commonly used as a preclinical model of depression, with increases in escape-directed behavior reflecting antidepressant effects, and increases in immobility reflecting behavioral despair. Environmental enrichment leads to serotonergic alterations in rats, but it is unknown whether these alterations may influence the efficacy of common antidepressants. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were reared in enriched (EC), standard (SC), or isolated (IC) conditions. Following the rearing period, fluoxetine (10 or 20 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered 23.5 hrs, 5 hrs, and 1 hr before locomotor and FST measures. Following locomotor testing and FST exposure, rats were weighed to assess fluoxetine-, FST-, and environmental condition-induced moderations in weight gain. Results revealed an antidepressant effect of environmental enrichment and a depressant effect of isolation. Regardless of significant fluoxetine effects on locomotor activity, fluoxetine generally decreased swimming and increased immobility in all three environmental conditions, with IC-fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) rats and EC-fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) rats swimming less than vehicle counterparts. Subchronic 20 mg/kg fluoxetine also induced significant weight loss, and differential rearing appeared to moderate weight gain following FST stress. These results suggest that differential rearing has the ability to alter FST behaviors, fluoxetine efficacy, and post-stressor well-being. Moreover, 20 mg/kg fluoxetine, administered subchronically, may lead to atypical effects of those commonly observed in the FST, highlighting the importance and impact of both environmental condition and dosing regimen in common animal models of depression

In-ovulo embryo culture and seedling development of seeded and seedless grapes (Vitis vinifera L.)

Normal embryos and seedling plants were obtained from normally abortive ovules of seedless grapes. Ovules of seeded and seedless cultivars were excised and cultured on 10 media at 12 dates between anthesis and 101 d postanthesis. Ovules cultured from anthesis until 14 d postanthesis-grew abnormally. At 24 and 31 d after anthesis, ovules developed into normal-appearing seeds, but they contained no noticeable embryo or endosperm. Viable embryos were found in excised ovules cultured beyond 38 d after anthesis. Ovules of 1 seedless grape cultured 52 d postanthesis germinated and produced healthy seedlings. Self pollinated ovules from 7 to 13 seedless clones produced viable embryos when cultured. Open pollinated ovules and crosses between seedless clones also produced viable embryos and seedling plants. This indicates that stenospermocarpic seedless grapes can produce viable embryos. lmplications for breeding of seedless grapes are discussed.Die Kultur von Samenanlagen zur Erzeugung von Embryonen und die Entwicklung von Sämlingen bei kernhaltigen und kernlosen Reben (Vitis vinifera L.)Aus normalerweise abortierenden Samenanlagen kernloser Rebsorten konnten normale Embryonen und Keimpflanzen gewonnen werden. Die Samenanlagen kernhaltiger und kernloser Sorten wurden isoliert und auf 10 verschiedenen Medien kultiviert, wobei der Entnahmezeitpunkt vom Tag der Anthese bis auf 101 d nach dem Aufblühen - insgesamt 12 verschiedene Termine - ausgedehnt wurde. Samenanlagen, die bis zu 14 d nach der Anthese isoliert worden waren, zeigten ein normales Wachstum. 24 und 31 d nach der Anthese isoliert, entwickelten sich die Samenanlagen zu äußerlich normalen Samen, die aber nur degenerierte Embryonen und Endospermreste enthielten. Lebensfähige Embryonen wurden gefunden, wenn die Embryonen frühestens 38 d nach der Anthese in Kultur genommen worden waren. Die Samenanlagen einer kernlosen Sorte, die 52 d nach dem Aufblühen isoliert worden waren, keimten und erzeugten gesunde Sämlinge. Bei Selbstbestäubung bildeten 7 von 13 kernlosen Klonen in den kultivierten Samenanlagen vitale Embryonen. Aus den kultivierten Samenanlagen frei abgeblühter oder untereinander gekreuzter kernloser Klone entstanden ebenfalls lebensfähige Embryonen und Sämlinge. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, daß viele stenospermokarp kernlose Reben lebensfähige Embryonen hervorbringen können, wenn sich die Samenanlagen nur in einem angemessenen Milieu entwickeln können. Die Konsequenzen für die Züchtung kernloser Rebsorten werden diskutiert

Proton transport and torque generation in rotary biomotors

We analyze the dynamics of rotary biomotors within a simple nano-electromechanical model, consisting of a stator part and a ring-shaped rotor having twelve proton-binding sites. This model is closely related to the membrane-embedded F$_0$ motor of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase, which converts the energy of the transmembrane electrochemical gradient of protons into mechanical motion of the rotor. It is shown that the Coulomb coupling between the negative charge of the empty rotor site and the positive stator charge, located near the periplasmic proton-conducting channel (proton source), plays a dominant role in the torque-generating process. When approaching the source outlet, the rotor site has a proton energy level higher than the energy level of the site, located near the cytoplasmic channel (proton drain). In the first stage of this torque-generating process, the energy of the electrochemical potential is converted into potential energy of the proton-binding sites on the rotor. Afterwards, the tangential component of the Coulomb force produces a mechanical torque. We demonstrate that, at low temperatures, the loaded motor works in the shuttling regime where the energy of the electrochemical potential is consumed without producing any unidirectional rotation. The motor switches to the torque-generating regime at high temperatures, when the Brownian ratchet mechanism turns on. In the presence of a significant external torque, created by ATP hydrolysis, the system operates as a proton pump, which translocates protons against the transmembrane potential gradient. Here we focus on the F$_0$ motor, even though our analysis is applicable to the bacterial flagellar motor.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure