259 research outputs found
Deep retrofit approaches: managing risks to minimise the energy performance gap
Energy use in buildings remains a significant part of overall energy demand. Deep renovation projects, delivered at scale, remain a challenging task to achieve a lower carbon building stock.The complexity of building renovation beyond standards and building specifications is related to inherent characteristics of buildings which require distinct project management techniques. While there are now more projects focusing on achieving operational performance, there is still very little research on the management of the renovation and retrofit process itself.
Recognising that each project working on an existing building is unique in type, timing, energy goals and the roles/characteristics of people involved, the aim of this paper is to add to the current debate of how intervention approaches (one-off or over-time, whole-house, fabric-first room-by-room, measure-by-measure) are promoted by different policies, and with what impact.
The paper discusses the complexity of a deep renovation project in terms of planning and management and the ways current policies can lead to unintended consequences in the short and long term, as well in lock-in effects that contribute to energy performance, and to the gap between designed and actual energy performance.
Using a typology of risks, the issues associated with renovation processes and technologies were explored in a sample of cases studies from deep retrofits across the EU. The evidence from these shows that despite holistic planning for renovation, interventions tend to be carried out in phases. These contrasting time dimensions and the different retrofit approaches are discussed with risk profiles for each retrofit project, suggesting how risks emerge throughout a project. A series of risk mitigation strategies are suggested which, taken in combination to suit a specific projectâs risk profile, may serve to reduce and potentially eliminate the building renovation energy performance gap
The dynamics of the 3D radial NLS with the combined terms
In this paper, we show the scattering and blow-up result of the radial
solution with the energy below the threshold for the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger
equation (NLS) with the combined terms iu_t + \Delta u = -|u|^4u + |u|^2u
\tag{CNLS} in the energy space . The threshold is given by the
ground state for the energy-critical NLS: . This
problem was proposed by Tao, Visan and Zhang in \cite{TaoVZ:NLS:combined}. The
main difficulty is the lack of the scaling invariance. Illuminated by
\cite{IbrMN:f:NLKG}, we need give the new radial profile decomposition with the
scaling parameter, then apply it into the scattering theory. Our result shows
that the defocusing, -subcritical perturbation does not
affect the determination of the threshold of the scattering solution of (CNLS)
in the energy space.Comment: 46page
Asymptotic behavior of small solutions for the discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger and Klein-Gordon equations
We show decay estimates for the propagator of the discrete Schr\"odinger and
Klein-Gordon equations in the form \norm{U(t)f}{l^\infty}\leq C
(1+|t|)^{-d/3}\norm{f}{l^1}. This implies a corresponding (restricted) set of
Strichartz estimates. Applications of the latter include the existence of
excitation thresholds for certain regimes of the parameters and the decay of
small initial data for relevant norms. The analytical decay estimates are
corroborated with numerical results.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
CMV matrices in random matrix theory and integrable systems: a survey
We present a survey of recent results concerning a remarkable class of
unitary matrices, the CMV matrices. We are particularly interested in the role
they play in the theory of random matrices and integrable systems. Throughout
the paper we also emphasize the analogies and connections to Jacobi matrices.Comment: Based on a talk given at the Short Program on Random Matrices, Random
Processes and Integrable Systems, CRM, Universite de Montreal, 200
Linear Statistics of Point Processes via Orthogonal Polynomials
For arbitrary , we use the orthogonal polynomials techniques
developed by R. Killip and I. Nenciu to study certain linear statistics
associated with the circular and Jacobi ensembles. We identify the
distribution of these statistics then prove a joint central limit theorem. In
the circular case, similar statements have been proved using different methods
by a number of authors. In the Jacobi case these results are new.Comment: Added references, corrected typos. To appear, J. Stat. Phy
Local and Global Well-Posedness for Aggregation Equations and Patlak-Keller-Segel Models with Degenerate Diffusion
Recently, there has been a wide interest in the study of aggregation
equations and Patlak-Keller-Segel (PKS) models for chemotaxis with degenerate
diffusion. The focus of this paper is the unification and generalization of the
well-posedness theory of these models. We prove local well-posedness on bounded
domains for dimensions and in all of space for , the
uniqueness being a result previously not known for PKS with degenerate
diffusion. We generalize the notion of criticality for PKS and show that
subcritical problems are globally well-posed. For a fairly general class of
problems, we prove the existence of a critical mass which sharply divides the
possibility of finite time blow up and global existence. Moreover, we compute
the critical mass for fully general problems and show that solutions with
smaller mass exists globally. For a class of supercritical problems we prove
finite time blow up is possible for initial data of arbitrary mass.Comment: 31 page
Multipoint Schur algorithm and orthogonal rational functions: convergence properties, I
Classical Schur analysis is intimately connected to the theory of orthogonal
polynomials on the circle [Simon, 2005]. We investigate here the connection
between multipoint Schur analysis and orthogonal rational functions.
Specifically, we study the convergence of the Wall rational functions via the
development of a rational analogue to the Szeg\H o theory, in the case where
the interpolation points may accumulate on the unit circle. This leads us to
generalize results from [Khrushchev,2001], [Bultheel et al., 1999], and yields
asymptotics of a novel type.Comment: a preliminary version, 39 pages; some changes in the Introduction,
Section 5 (Szeg\H o type asymptotics) is extende
Schmallenberg virus pathogenesis, tropism and interaction with the innate immune system of the host
Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is an emerging orthobunyavirus of ruminants associated with outbreaks of congenital malformations in aborted and stillborn animals. Since its discovery in November 2011, SBV has spread very rapidly to many European countries. Here, we developed molecular and serological tools, and an experimental in vivo model as a platform to study SBV pathogenesis, tropism and virus-host cell interactions. Using a synthetic biology approach, we developed a reverse genetics system for the rapid rescue and genetic manipulation of SBV. We showed that SBV has a wide tropism in cell culture and âsyntheticâ SBV replicates in vitro as efficiently as wild type virus. We developed an experimental mouse model to study SBV infection and showed that this virus replicates abundantly in neurons where it causes cerebral malacia and vacuolation of the cerebral cortex. These virus-induced acute lesions are useful in understanding the progression from vacuolation to porencephaly and extensive tissue destruction, often observed in aborted lambs and calves in naturally occurring Schmallenberg cases. Indeed, we detected high levels of SBV antigens in the neurons of the gray matter of brain and spinal cord of naturally affected lambs and calves, suggesting that muscular hypoplasia observed in SBV-infected lambs is mostly secondary to central nervous system damage. Finally, we investigated the molecular determinants of SBV virulence. Interestingly, we found a biological SBV clone that after passage in cell culture displays increased virulence in mice. We also found that a SBV deletion mutant of the non-structural NSs protein (SBVÎNSs) is less virulent in mice than wild type SBV. Attenuation of SBV virulence depends on the inability of SBVÎNSs to block IFN synthesis in virus infected cells. In conclusion, this work provides a useful experimental framework to study the biology and pathogenesis of SBV
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