Innovative Control of Electric Heat in Multifamily Buildings

This paper describes the application of web-based wireless technology for control of electric heating in a large multifamily housing complex. The control system architecture and components are described. A web-based application enables remote monitoring of temperature, electric usage and control of peak demand through a temperature-based duty-cycling algorithm developed specifically for the application. Installed costs and energy savings are discussed. A 16% energy-use reduction was confirmed through the first heating season of operation. The response of occupants and management to changes in temperature regime has been a critical aspect of system start-up and commissioning

Temporary Labour–Migration System and Long–term Residence Strategies in the United Arab Emirates

© 2019 The Authors. International Migration © 2019 IOM The United Arab Emirates’ migration system, the sponsorship–based kafala system, is defined as a temporary labour–migration regime. Although there are policies making permanent residence unattainable for virtually all migrants, it is still relevant to explore the temporality of migrations in the UAE. The purpose of this study is to investigate developments in migration, migration policies and population trends in the country, including trends that concern the duration of migrants’ stay. We also identify some of the major strategies used by migrants to prolong their sojourn in the UAE. It is maintained that the migrant stock has increased continuously in the last decades and that a large number of migrants devise strategies to continue their residence and remain in the country for years. The authors also identify and discuss migrants’ transition within and in-between regularity and irregularity, and analyse the reasons for utilizing different strategies over time

Seeing by Degrees: Programming Visualization From Sensor Networks

In order to create baseline conditions for building energy performance, make a setting adjustment or determine optimal operating parameters, it is often necessary to view a large series of history data from a building control and management system. However, viewing large amounts of data in tables and charts is not a useful procedure to find significant patterns and information for an energy team. A new approach at AEA adds a programming engineer to the normal energy analysis team who manages data and programs visualization tools to speed analysis. This paper addresses the potential effectiveness of such an addition to the typical building operations (optimization) project team. The programming engineer confronts issues in two directions. First is the nature of the data as it is captured and stored, which establishes various data processing steps that are necessary to produce an automated acquisition system to the server. For the second direction, the programming engineer must adapt to the needs of the project team: what kinds of questions are the building engineers asking, how does data need to be aggregated, and how can it best be visualized. The paper considers how, in order to produce useful data tools, the programming engineer is confronted with having to learn and appreciate the kinds of questions asked by other disciplines on the project team

Solubilization and characterization of σ-receptors from guinea pig brain membranes

The σ-receptor, a distinct binding site in brain tissue that may mediate some of the psychotomimetic properties of benzomorphan opiates and phencyclidine, has been solubilized using the ionic detergent sodium cholate. Binding assays were performed with the solubilized receptor using vacuum filtration over polyethyleneimine-treated glass fiber filters. The pharmacological specificity of the solubilized binding site for σ-receptor ligands is nearly identical to the membrane-bound form of the receptor, with the order of potencies for displacement of the selective ρ-ligand [3H]di-o-tolylguanidine ([3H]DTG) closely correlated. The stereoselectivity for (+)-benzomorphan opiate enantiomers was retained by the solubilized receptor. The soluble receptor retained high affinity for binding of [3H]DTG (KD = 28 ± 0.5 nM) and (+)-[3H]3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-N-(l-propyl)piperidine {(+)-[3H]3-PPP} (KD = 36 ± 2 nM). Photoaffinity labeling of the solubilized receptor by [3H]p-azido-DTG, a ρ-selective photoaffinity label, resulted in labeling of a 29-kilodalton polypeptide identical in size to that labeled in intact membranes. Estimation of the Stokes radius of the [3H]DTG binding site was obtained by Sepharose CL-6B chromatography in the presence of 20 mM cholate and calculated to be 8.7 nm. This value was identical to the molecular size found for the binding sites of the σ-selective ligands (+)-[3H]3-PPP and (+)-[3H]SKF-10,047, supporting the hypothesis that all three ligands bind to the same macro-molecular complex