A Guide for the Design of Benchmark Environments for Building Energy Optimization

The need for algorithms that optimize building energy consumption is usually motivated with the high energy consumption of buildings on a global scale. However, the current practice for evaluating the performance of such algorithms does not reflect this goal, as in most cases the performance is reported for one specific simulated building only, which provides no indication about the generalization of the score on other buildings. One approach to overcome this severe issue is to establish a shared collection of environments, each representing one simulated building setup, that would enable researchers to systematically compare and contrast the efficacy of their building optimization algorithms at scale. However, this requires that the individual environments are well designed for this goal. This paper is thus targeting the design of suitable environments for such a collection based on a detailed analysis of related publications that allows the identification of relevant characteristics for suitable environments. Based on this analysis a guide is developed that distills these characteristics into questions, intended to support a discussion of relevant topics during the design of such environments. Additional explanations and examples are provided for each question to make the guide more comprehensible. Finally, it is demonstrated how the guide can be applied, by utilizing it for the design of a novel environment, which represents an office building in tropical climate. This environment is released open source alongside this publication. We also indicate how test scenarios from existing publications could be enhanced to comply with the required characteristics according to our guide, underlining its importance for the future development and evaluation of building energy optimization algorithms, and thus for the sustainability of buildings in general

Determining fracture energy parameters of concrete from the modified compact tension test

The modified compact tension (MCT) test, though not yet recognized as a valid test for determining fracture energy of concrete, is believed to represent a plausible and suitable alternative versus other well established procedures, such as the wedge-splitting test (WST) and the three point (3PB) or four point bending (4PB) tests, due to its simplicity and low cost. The aim of the paper is twofold: Firstly, to demonstrate the necessary correspondence between the experimental MCT test setup and finite element simulations and secondly, to initiate the way of establishing the desirable conversion between the fracture energy parameter values resulting from the MCT test and the standard conventional procedures. MCT tests are carried out and compared with the numerical results from 2-D and 3-D finite element calculations using the commercial codesABAQUS and ATENA, the latter being specifically developed for applications on concrete structures andelements. In this way, the usability of the modified compact tension test for practical purposes is confirmed

Mobile just-in-time training application for emergency healthcare

While the applications of just-in-time training are more and more spread, the ubiquitous mobile technology has not found practical uses of this training strategy. As an original example of services for healthcare, we present in this work an application of eTraining that makes use of mobile telephones to transmit medical and on-site information content to emergency medical personnel that attend and emergency. The state-of-the-art in related technologies, overall architecture, and functioning of JITTER (for Just-In-Time Training for Emergency Responders) is described in this work.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Evaluación de resultados de fatiga con alto y ultra alto número de ciclos mediante un modelo de regresión de Weibull

El modelo de fatiga de regresión de Weibull, propuesto por Castillo-Canteli, representa una alternativa posible y adecuada para la evaluación y predicción de vidas de fatiga ultra altas (VHCF). Este modelo proporciona una definición probabilística del campo S-N para los posibles mecanismos de rotura determinantes, basada en distribuciones de Weibull de mínimos, así como la existencia de un límite de fatiga asintótico y la propiedad de reducir todo el campo SN a una única función de distribución mediante la variable normalizada V=(log N-B)(log Δσ-C). De este modo, el doble mecanismo de rotura, interno y superficial, que caracteriza las vidas altas (HCF) y ultra altas (VHCF) en fatiga puede ser satisfactoriamente tratado como distribuciones independientes en este particular y complejo caso de muestras con resultados concurrentes, conocido como problema de datos confundidos. Una vez estimados los parámetros de ambas funciones de distribución se procede a la combinación y reconversión de ambas como campo S-N conjunto. El modelo permite establecer una estrategia para optimizar la programación de los ensayos. Por último se presentan dos ejemplos de aplicación, uno de un programa externo experimental y otro de resultados simulados, ambos con ultra alto número de ciclos y dos posible mecanismos de rotura.The fatigue Weibull regression model proposed by Castillo-Canteli represents a possible and adequate alternative for the assessment and prediction of very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) lifetimes. This model provides a probabilistic definition of the S-N field for the two determining failure mechanisms based Weibull distributions for minima, as well as the existence of an asymptotic fatigue limit and the capability to reduce the S-N field to a single cumulative distribution function by considering the normalized variable V=(log N-B) (log Δσ). In this way, both dual fracture mechanisms, i.e. the internal and the surface ones, characterizing the HCF and VHCF data can be adequately interpreted and handled as independent distributions in such a particular and complex case of concurrent populations, known as a confounded data problem. Once the model parameters of both normalized cumulative distribution functions are independently estimated for both failure mechanisms and subsequently combined and reconverted to a joint S-N field whereby. The model allows a test strategy to be established for optimizing the the fatigue program planning. Finally, two examples of application are presented, the first related to an external experimental program, and the second to simulated data both for VCCF with twofold failure mechanisms

Design S-N curves for old Portuguese and French riveted bridges connection based on statistical analyses

Maintenance of ancient road and railway metallic bridges has become a major concern for governmental agencies in the past few decades. Indeed, since the construction of these structures, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, traffic conditions have evolved, both in weight and frequency. In the purpose to assess the remaining life of old metallic bridges, some critical structural details have been identified and associated to S-N curves in order to be used in damage estimation (using Palmgren-Miner’s rule for cumulative damage, for example). These constructional details are described by design rules of several European and North American standards, such as the Eurocode 3, BS 5400 and AASHTO standards. The particularity of ancient bridges is that hot riveted assemblies, commonly used for their construction, are not represented in most construction standards. Further experiences on the matter by numerous research teams have suggested detail category C71 from the Eurocode 3 as appropriate. In this paper, experimental data from double shear assemblies manufactures from three different metallic ancient bridges is used to identify, through a statistical analysis, the S-N curves that best fit this constructional detail. Portuguese and French puddled iron bridges were considered.The authors of this paper thank the National Society of French Railways and the SciTech - Science and Technology for Competitive and Sustainable Industries, R&D project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000022 cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte ("NORTE2020"), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) for their collaboration and support during this research works. The authors also acknowledge the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) for the financial support through the post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/107825/2015

Complement component 3 (C3) expression in the hippocampus after excitotoxic injury: role of C/EBPβ

[Background] The CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ) is a transcription factor implicated in the control of proliferation, differentiation, and inflammatory processes mainly in adipose tissue and liver; although more recent results have revealed an important role for this transcription factor in the brain. Previous studies from our laboratory indicated that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β is implicated in inflammatory process and brain injury, since mice lacking this gene were less susceptible to kainic acid-induced injury. More recently, we have shown that the complement component 3 gene (C3) is a downstream target of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β and it could be a mediator of the proinflammatory effects of this transcription factor in neural cells.[Methods] Adult male Wistar rats (8–12 weeks old) were used throughout the study. C/EBPβ+/+ and C/EBPβ–/– mice were generated from heterozygous breeding pairs. Animals were injected or not with kainic acid, brains removed, and brain slices containing the hippocampus analyzed for the expression of both CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β and C3.[Results] In the present work, we have further extended these studies and show that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β and C3 co-express in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus after an excitotoxic injury. Studies using CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β knockout mice demonstrate a marked reduction in C3 expression after kainic acid injection in these animals, suggesting that indeed this protein is regulated by C/EBPβ in the hippocampus in vivo.[Conclusions] Altogether these results suggest that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β could regulate brain disorders, in which excitotoxic and inflammatory processes are involved, at least in part through the direct regulation of C3.This work was supported by MINECO, Grant SAF2014-52940-R and partially financed with FEDER funds. CIBERNED is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. JAM-G was supported by CIBERNED. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe