Continuous Commissioning: A Valuable Partner to Retrofit Projects

Continuous Commissioning (CC) or HVAC system optimization is not only a valuable stand-alone energy saving measure for commercial buildings, but it is also an important escort solution to retrofit projects. Energy retrofit projects typically achieve projected savings. But in cases where savings goals are not being met, optimizing HVAC system performance can be the difference in an underachieving versus a successful project. This paper presents a real-world study of pairing a CC project with an energy retrofit in a 107,000 square foot hospital building. Applying the CC strategy to an underperforming retrofit, projected energy savings were achieved and even increased. Additionally, by increasing supply air capacity, patients, staff and visitors now enjoy improved comfort conditions. This paper also explores the working relationship between an ESCO and a university research laboratory, whose combined efforts led to this remarkable turn around

Texas Senate Bill 5 Legislation for Reducing Pollution in Non-Attainment and Affected Areas: An Overview of Legislative Responsibilities, Code Compliance Issues and Accomplishments

The 77th Texas Legislature, in 2001, established Senate Bill 5, SB-5, which addressed NOx emission reductions by establishing programs to reduce vehicle emissions and reductions due to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. The 78th Texas Legislature further expanded SB-5 into code certification for code officials and above code programs. Using data available from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ, the EPA and new procedures developed by the Laboratory, the annual energy savings calculated in 2003 from energy-code compliant new residential construction in non-attainment and affected counties were 252,238 megawatt hours of electricity and 887,564 million Btu of natural gas. The resultant annual NOx reductions were 473 tons. On a peak summer day in 2003, the NOx emissions were 2.44 tons. SB-5 recognized Energy Efficiency / Renewable Energy, EE/RE, as a valid method to reduce emissions. The Energy Systems Laboratory was made responsible for achieving the following goals. 1. Quantify the NOx reductions from EE/RE by county. 2. Assist cities and counties determine the impact of code amendments that they planned to adopt. 3. Conduct training on the IRC / IECC, including ASHRAE 90.1. 4. Set up a certification program for code officials. 5. Assist cities and counties to achieve above code performance. 6. Translate the EE/RE savings into EPA acceptable emissions reductions which can be applied to the State Implementation Plan, SIP

Severe upper airway obstruction due to delayed retropharyngeal hematoma formation following blunt cervical trauma

BACKGROUND: We report a case of severe upper airway obstruction due to a retropharyngeal hematoma that presented nearly one day after a precipitating traumatic injury. Retropharyngeal hematomas are rare, but may cause life-threatening airway compromise. CASE PRESENTATION: A 50 year-old man developed severe dyspnea with oropharyngeal airway compression due to retropharyngeal hematoma 20 hours after presenting to the emergency department. The patient also had a fractured first cervical vertebra and was diagnosed with a left brachial plexopathy. The patient underwent emergent awake fiberoptic endotracheal intubation to provide a definitive airway. CONCLUSION: Retropharyngeal hematoma with life-threatening airway compromise can develop hours or days after a precipitating injury. Clinicians should be alert to the potential for this delayed airway collapse, and should also be prepared to rapidly secure the airway in this patient population likely to have concomitant cervical spinal or head injuries

When learning becomes a fetish: the pledge, turn and prestige of magic tricks

It is our contention that the process of higher education could be read as a commodity and in both Marxian and Freudian assumptions, a fetish. Instrumental in this discussion are; Marx’s theorising of the commodity fetish (1867) that deceives by conflating the distinction between use and exchange value, and Freud’s (1927) re-visiting of his theory of fetishism, where he considers the fetish in the context of dealing with separation and loss in everyday life. This paper highlights how the consequence of fetishised behaviour has led to violent outcomes, such as the policy decision to introduce a ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ (TEF). We argue that the TEF may bring about the death of learning in HE and diminish the role of academic staff. Nevertheless, influenced by Winnicott, Cixous and Biesta, we offer a more hopeful ‘Teaching that is Good Enough Framework’

Elevated Incidence of Dental Caries in a Mouse Model of Cystic Fibrosis

Saliva bicarbonate constitutes the main buffering system which neutralizes the pH fall generated by the plaque bacteria during sugar metabolism. We found that the saliva pH is severely decreased in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis disease (CF). Given the close relationship between pH and caries development, we hypothesized that caries incidence might be elevated in the mouse CF model.). are enhanced at low pH values, we speculate that the decrease in the bicarbonate content and pH buffering of the saliva is at least partially responsible for the increased severity of lesions observed in the CF mouse

An Organic Spin Crossover Material in Water from a Covalently Linked Radical Dyad

A covalently linked viologen radical cation dyad acts as a reversible thermomagnetic switch in water. Cycling between diamagnetic and paramagnetic forms by heating and cooling is accompanied by changes in optical and magnetic properties with high radical fidelity. Thermomagnetic switches in water may eventually find use as novel biological thermometers and in temperature-responsive organic materials where the changes in properties originate from a change in electronic spin configuration rather than a change in structure