Determinants of high electrical energy demand in UK homes: Appliance ownership and use

This paper provides an analysis of the appliance ownership and use factors contributing to high electrical energy demand in UK homes. The data were collected during a large-scale, city-wide survey, carried out in Leicester, UK, in 2009–2010. Annual electricity consumption and appliance ownership and use were established for 183 dwellings and an odds ratio analysis used to identify the factors that led to high electricity consumption. Many of the appliance ownership and use factors have not previously been studied for the UK domestic sector. The results of this study should be of key interest to government policy makers and energy supply companies interested in the underlying drivers of the highly positively skewed distribution of UK domestic electricity use. The study identifies those appliances that could be targeted for technical improvements or subjected to campaigns to encourage more energy efficient use in order to reduce electricity consumption among high demand households. This paper builds on earlier work by the current authors which identified the households (socio-demographic and dwelling characteristics) most likely to be high electricity consumers. The current work provides the basis for advice and guidance to those households that would enable them to, over time, reduce their electricity use

サブマイクロメートルスケール細胞膜研究の基盤技術

京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(工学)甲第22464号工博第4725号新制||工||1738(附属図書館)京都大学大学院工学研究科分子工学専攻(主査)教授 梅田 眞郷, 教授 水落 憲和, 准教授 菅瀬 謙治学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering)Kyoto UniversityDGA

Assessment of Indoor Climate for Infants in Nursery School Classrooms in Mild Climatic Areas in Japan

In Japan, the standard of indoor climate in nursery school classrooms has not been established, and the control and maintenance of indoor climate in the classrooms are entrusted to individual childminders. Therefore, indoor climate in nursery school classrooms was measured to prepare fundamental information for proper environmental design and environmental control, considering infants’ comfort and health. The climate of 0-year-old and 1-year-old children’s rooms in 15 nursery schools located in mild climatic areas in Japan were measured in the summer and winter over four years. Consequently, a lower average temperature was found during winter at lower heights at which infants spend time and indoor air quality was found to be poor in both summer and winter due to a lower ventilation rate in some classrooms with a smaller area per infant compared to the minimum standards for child welfare institutions. One classroom with an average CO2 concentration of over 1500 ppm was found in both summer and winter due to less ventilation. Illumination less than 300 lx in one-third of the studied classrooms and high equivalent noise level in most classrooms were measured. The need for indoor environmental standards was indicated in terms of infants’ comfort and health

Nanodiamonds for bioapplications - specific targeting strategies

Background: Nanodiamonds (NDs) provide a unique multitasking system for drug delivery and fluorescent imaging in biological environments. Owing to their quantum properties, NDs are expected to be employed as multifunctional probes in the future for the accurate visualization of biophysical parameters such as temperature and magnetic fields. However, the use of NDs for the selective targeting of the biomolecules of interest within a complicated biological system remains a challenge. One of the most promising solutions is the appropriate surface design of NDs based on organic chemistry and biochemistry. The engineered NDs have high biocompatibility and dispersibility in a biological environment and hence undergo cellular uptake through specific pathways. Scope of review: This review focuses on the selective targeting of NDs for biomedical and biophysical applications from the viewpoint of ND surface functionalizations and modifications. These pretreatments make possible the specific targeting of biomolecules of interest on or in a cell by NDs via a designed biochemical route.Major conclusions: The surface of a ND is covalently or noncovalently modified with silica, polymers, or biomolecules to reshape them, control their size, and enhance the colloidal stability and biomolecular selectivity toward biomolecules of interest. Electroporation, chemical treatment, injection, or endocytosis are the methods generally adopted to introduce a ND into living cells. The pathway, efficiency, and the cell viability depend on the selected method.General significance: In the biomedical field, surface modification facilitates specific delivery of a drug, leading to a higher therapeutic efficacy. In biophysical applications, surface modification paves the way for the accurate measurement of physical parameters to gain a better understanding of various cell functions