ANALYSIS OF ENERGY SAVINGS THROUGH THE USE OF DISPLACEMENT VENTILATION IN DOMESTIC BUILDINGS

This study investigates the conditions under which it might be possible to implement a displacement ventilation system in a residential building. An experimental study of the impact on a mechanical air conditioning system of the vertical location of the inlet and outlet vents was performed. The four ventilation configurations of low inlet high outlet, low inlet low outlet, high inlet high outlet, and high inlet low outlet were compared. These four configurations were compared under 13 different heat load scenarios in a full scale instrumented model room. It was found that, for higher heat loads, the low inlet high outlet configuration was able to maintain approximately the same temperature in the occupied region as for a lower heat load, while developing a strong two layer stratification within the room such that the outlet temperature was significantly higher than the ambient temperature in the lower occupied region of the room. This was achieved because this ventilation configuration was able to stratify the temperature within the room and force the heat into the upper unoccupied region. From this zone the outlet was able to more efficiently remove the unwanted heat. The increased outlet temperature means that the inlet temperature can be closer to the temperature required for thermal comfort meaning that less pre-cooling of air is required. The results show that, even with only a 2.5 meter ceiling height, comparable to most residential applications, the displacement ventilation configuration was able to reduce the need for mechanical conditioning. This would have a noticeable impact on the energy requirements of a residential building

A Phenomenological Study Of Teachers’ Motivations To Use Instructional Technology

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to identify and describe the factors that motivate teachers to integrate instructional technology in a district that has a 1:1 Chromebook program and tech-rich classroom environments. The research questions guiding this study were: How do middle school teachers describe the impact of access to contemporary technology resources on their motivation to integrate technology in their classrooms?; What are middle school teachers’ perceptions of how professional development experiences impact their motivation to integrate technology in the classroom?; How do the lived experiences of middle school teachers impact how they integrate technology in their classrooms? The theories guiding this study were the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989) as is focused on user acceptance or rejection of new technologies, and the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985). The sample consisted of ten participants who are employed in a school district that utilizes a 1:1 Chromebook program and has access to various technologies within the classroom space. Data were collected via interviews, observations, and writing prompts. The data were analyzed in accordance with Moustakas’s (1994) analysis procedures. Findings from this study revealed the factors that teachers found were most influential on their utilization of instructional technology. The researched revealed the importance of high self-efficacy that results from the necessary support from district and school leadership, access to resources, and clear intentions for student achievement and success on teachers’ motivation to integrate technology in their classroom practices

An application of Fleck effective scattering to the difference formulation for photon transport

We introduce a new treatment of the difference formulation[1] for photon radiation transport without scattering in 1d slab geometry that is closely analogous to that of Fleck and Cummings[2] for the traditional formulation. The resulting form is free of implicit source terms and has the familiar effective scattering of the field of transport

Care provision for people with Fragile X Syndrome: Should it be need or diagnosis driven?

Initially, researchers proposed that Fragile X syndrome (FXS) should be called AFRAX syndrome because it was thought to be caused by an autism gene (Gillberg, Persson, & Wahlström, 1986). However, as research into FXS has progressed and an exploration of the behavioural phenotype has taken place important differences have emerged. The systematic review (Paper 1) aims to delineate a behavioural phenotype for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). Ten papers were included in the review. All papers were of a standard to demonstrate a behavioural phenotype for FXS. There are attributes of the FXS behavioural phenotype that meet the criteria for both Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and/or Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). However, there is robust evidence to support a broad FXS behavioural phenotype comprising: 1) social behavioural and communication difficulties, 2) emotional regulation difficulties, 3) repetitive and restrictive behaviour and speech. Several recommendations for research and clinical practice are discussed. The aim of the empirical study (paper 2) was to examine if there are differences between the behaviour phenotype profiles of those with FXS who have a diagnosis of ASC and those that do not. Parents were asked to complete an online questionnaire that included the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), the Wessex Questionnaire, and standard demographic information. The findings of the 38 parents who completed the questionnaire are discussed below. Finally, the research review (Paper3) will explore the author’s research process. This includes a discussion about the decisions to undertake the research, as well as a review of the methodological limitations, implications for policy direction, further research and clinical implications

Transverse flow of nuclear matter in collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate energies

The Quantum Molecular Dynamics Model (IQMD) is used to investigate the origin of the collective transverse velocity observed in heavy ion experiments. We find that there are three contributions to this effect: initial-final state correlations, potential interactions and collisions. For a given nuclear equation of state (eos) the increase of the transverse velocity with increasing beam energy is caused by the potential part. For a given beam energy the collective transverse velocity is independent of the nuclear eos but the relative contributions of potential and collisions differ. In view of the importance of the potential interactions between the nucleons it is not evident that the similarity of the radial velocities measured for fragments at beam energies below 1 AGeV and that for mesons at beam energies above 2 AGeV is more than accidental.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, revtex, OASIS ref PLB1700

An investigation of the reproducibility of a self-selected natural feet position when standing: Implications for the assessment of upright standing posture

Background Photogrammetry is often used to evaluate standing static postural alignment. Patients are often instructed to self-select a natural feet position but it's unclear whether this position can be consistently replicated across repeated assessments. Objective To determine whether people can replicate a self-selected natural feet position in upright standing across three sessions on different days. Design Between days test-retest reliability. Setting University laboratory. Methods Three variables – Base of Support (BoS), Foot Width (FW), Feet Opening Angle (FOA) – were measured from foot tracings of 150 participants (18–30 years) using established procedures. BoS data were assessed for systematic bias (Analysis of Variance), and absolute (Coefficient of Variation - CV%) and relative (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient - ICC) reliability. Results There was systematic bias in the BoS data across the three testing sessions. The CV% for the BoS data was 15.2%. The ICC (95% CI) for the BoS data was 0.84 (0.79–0.87). There were moderate-large correlations between the BoS and both FOA and FW respectively within each session. Conclusion If clinicians want to allow patients to use their self-selected natural feet position for repeated photogrammetric assessment of their static postural alignment it would be better to standardise the position of the feet, for example, by creating a tracing of a patient's self-selected natural feet position

Fission-Fusion Neutron Source Progress Report July 31, 2009

In this report the authors describe progress in evaluating the feasibility of a novel concept for producing intense pulses of 14 MeV neutrons using the DT fusion reaction. In this new scheme the heating of the DT is accomplished using fission fragments rather than ion beams as in conventional magnet fusion schemes or lasers in ICF schemes. This has the great advantage that there is no need for any large auxiliary power source. The scheme does require large magnetic fields, but generating these fields, e.g. with superconducting magnets, requires only a modest power source. As a source of fission fragments they propose using a dusty reactor concept introduced some time ago by one of us (RC). The version of the dusty reactor that they propose using for our neutron source would operate as a thermal neutron reactor and use highly enriched uranium in the form of micron sized pellets of UC. Our scheme for using the fission fragments to produce intense pulses of 14 MeV neutrons is based on the fission fragment rocket idea. In the fission fragment rocket scheme it was contemplated that the fission fragments produced in a low density reactor core would then be guided out of the reactor by large magnetic fields. A simple version of this idea would be to use the fission fragments escaping from one side of a tandem magnet mirror to heat DT gas confined in the adjacent magnetic trap

Isospin effects on the energy of vanishing flow in heavy-ion collisions

Using the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model we study the isospin effects on the disappearance of flow for the reactions of $^{58}Ni$ + $^{58}Ni$ and $^{58}Fe$ +$^{58}Fe$ as a function of impact parameter. We found good agreement between our calculations and experimentally measured energy of vanishing flow at all colliding geometries. Our calculations reproduce the experimental data within 5%(10%) at central (peripheral) geometries