Homes as machines: Exploring expert and public imaginaries of low carbon housing futures in the United Kingdom

Low carbon housing policies embody visions of the future that shape and constrain current choices between different technological pathways. These socio-technical imaginaries include expectations around new ways of living and interacting with technology, with implications for everyday lives. This paper investigates existing expert visions of low carbon housing, and explores these futures with members of the public; utilising empirical data from policy documents, expert interviews and public focus groups. Two competing expert visions of low carbon housing were identified: Passivhaus and Smart Homes. Whilst portrayed as divergent futures, both visions aimed to ‘design out’ the role of occupants, achieving emissions reductions through changes to the built environment and maintaining current lifestyles; a position that was reinforced by an imagined public that was unable or unwilling to accept the need for lifestyle change. This construction of the public did not consider the complex personal and cultural dimensions that influenced public acceptability of future housing: specifically surrounding themes of comfort, control and security that arose within the focus groups. The tensions arising between expert and public imaginaries highlight the difficulties that may surround any transition towards a low carbon future and demonstrate the need to work with, rather than around, the public

Design optimization during the different design stages

The A/E/C (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry is very traditional. In contrast to other industries (e.g. car or ship industry) no prototypes are trialled and tested before manufacturing. Each building is unique, thereby excluding large scale production. Over the past thirty years, computers have become ubiquitous even in the AEC industry. Yet in building design we are still exchanging data and making design decisions as a century ago, with paper drawings and reports. Although building design support tools are used for design confirmation at the end of the design process, important decisions are already made in the conceptual design stage. This paper reports an ongoing research which focuses on the different stages of the design process, their needs and key issues. Depending on the distinction of the design stages, literature review was done in the field of Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. The variability in the definition of their fitnessfunction, the difference of inheritance, mutation etc. could add benefit to one specific design stage. The paper finishes with indicating trends for future work

Adapting advanced engineering design approaches to building design - potential benefits

A number of industries continuously progress advancing their design approaches based on the changing market constraints. Examples such as car, ship and airplane manufacturing industries utilize process setups and techniques, that differ significantly from the processes and techniques used by the traditional building industry. One important difference between the building and other industries is that no prototypes are trialed and tested before manufacturing. This fact causes the design stages to be highly iterative without implementing prototype performance data into the global design process. Evolutionary design i.e. is one technique that aims to adapt the biologic process of evolution to engineering. This technique could have the potential benefit of reducing the design iteration from concept creation to construction. The paper identifies possible differences between the industries and the analysis of the benefits from adapting Evolutionary design to concept creation, evaluation and optimization based on building performance criteria. This paper summarizes the latest research findings documented in subject related literature. Furthermore the iterative character of building design will be detailed by stating key results from design team observations. The final conclusions will indicate reasons why techniques as evolutionary design were not yet successfully integrated to building design

An exploration of the option space in student design projects for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis with performance simulation

This paper describes research conducted to gather empirical evidence on extent, character and content of the option space in building design projects, from the perspective of a climate engineer using building performance simulation for concept evaluation. The goal is to support uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis integrated to building performance simulation (BPS) tools. The integration will need to assist design rather than automate design, allowing a spontaneous, creative and flexible process that acknowledges the expertise of the design team members. The paper investigates the emergent option space and its inherent uncertainties of an artificial setting (student design studios). The preliminary findings provide empirical evidence of the high variability of the option space that can be subjected to uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis

Relation between design requirements and building performance simulation

The aim of this paper is to reveal the relation between basic design requirements and the use of building performance simulation in current design practice. As a starting point to focus future research on building performance simulation a number of interviews with building design practitioners were conducted to find the answer to the question: "What general information can be obtained on the building design requirements, providing a background for the context in which future building performance simulation tools or support environments will be used?" The results of the interviews with world leading building services professionals are elaborated focusing on the relationship of value drivers and design requirements, which prescribe the building performance. The literature review on architectural programming together with the outcomes of the interviews will reveal whether the value drivers such as flexibility, functionality and sustainability are identified in the program of requirements, accommodating the client’s expectation on the building performance or not. The results are summarized and interpreted suggesting alternatives for the use of building performance simulation

Orexin Receptor Antagonism, a New Sleep-Enabling Paradigm: A Proof-of-Concept Clinical Trial

Peer reviewe

Neandertal and Denisovan DNA from Pleistocene sediments.

Although a rich record of Pleistocene human-associated archaeological assemblages exists, the scarcity of hominin fossils often impedes the understanding of which hominins occupied a site. Using targeted enrichment of mitochondrial DNA we show that cave sediments represent a rich source of ancient mammalian DNA that often includes traces of hominin DNA, even at sites and in layers where no hominin remains have been discovered. By automation-assisted screening of numerous sediment samples we detect Neandertal DNA in eight archaeological layers from four caves in Eurasia. In Denisova Cave we retrieved Denisovan DNA in a Middle Pleistocene layer near the bottom of the stratigraphy. Our work opens the possibility to detect the presence of hominin groups at sites and in areas where no skeletal remains are found

Biotransformation of lanthanum by Aspergillus niger

Lanthanum is an important rare earth element and has many applications in modern electronics and catalyst manufacturing. However, there exist several obstacles in the recovery and cycling of this element due to a low average grade in exploitable deposits and low recovery rates by energy-intensive extraction procedures. In this work, a novel method to transform and recover La has been proposed using the geoactive properties of Aspergillus niger. La-containing crystals were formed and collected after A. niger was grown on Czapek-Dox agar medium amended with LaCl 3. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) showed the crystals contained C, O, and La; scanning electron microscopy revealed that the crystals were of a tabular structure with terraced surfaces. X-ray diffraction identified the mineral phase of the sample as La 2(C 2O 4) 3·10H 2O. Thermogravimetric analysis transformed the oxalate crystals into La 2O 3 with the kinetics of thermal decomposition corresponding well with theoretical calculations. Geochemical modelling further confirmed that the crystals were lanthanum decahydrate and identified optimal conditions for their precipitation. To quantify crystal production, biomass-free fungal culture supernatants were used to precipitate La. The results showed that the precipitated lanthanum decahydrate achieved optimal yields when the concentration of La was above 15 mM and that 100% La was removed from the system at 5 mM La. Our findings provide a new aspect in the biotransformation and biorecovery of rare earth elements from solution using biomass-free fungal culture systems. </p

Understanding the differences of integrating building performance simulation in the architectural education system

In order to assist tertiary architectural education institutions as well as the architecture profession in developing course material and training packages related to Building Performance Simulation (BPS), we present the outcome of a survey conducted in Australia, India, the US and the UK. The main objective of the survey was to investigate how BPS is taught at a number of different architecture schools at universities in these countries and to point out potential difficulties and barriers. Based on the survey, the paper proposes a number of recommendations and highlights opportunities for future degree schemes that develop module content and learning objectives/ outcome for teaching BPS at architectural tertiary educational institutions.Christina J. Hopfe, Veronica Soebarto, Dru Crawley, Rajan Rawa

Restless Legs Syndrome Prevalence and Clinical Correlates Among Psychiatric Inpatients: A Multicenter Study.

Background There are only limited reports on the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in patients with psychiatric disorders. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and clinical correlates in psychiatric inpatients in Germany and Switzerland. Methods This is a multicenter cross-sectional study of psychiatric inpatients with an age above 18 years that were diagnosed and evaluated face-to-face using the International RLS Study Group criteria (IRLSSG) and the International RLS severity scale (IRLS). In addition to sociodemographic and biometric data, sleep quality and mood were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). In addition to univariate statistics used to describe and statistically analyze differences in variables of interest between patients with and without RLS, a logistic model was employed to identify predictors for the occurrence of RLS. Results The prevalence of RLS in a sample of 317 psychiatric inpatients was 16.4%, and 76.9% of these were diagnosed with RLS for the first time. RLS severity was moderate to severe (IRLS ± SD: 20.3 ± 8.4). The prevalences in women (p = 0.0036) and in first-degree relatives with RLS (p = 0.0108) as well as the body mass index (BMI, p = 0.0161) were significantly higher among patients with RLS, while alcohol consumption was significantly lower in the RLS group. With the exception of atypical antipsychotics, treatment with psychotropic drugs was not associated with RLS symptoms. Regarding subjective sleep quality and mood, scores of the PSQI (p = 0.0007), ISI (p = 0.0003), and ESS (p = 0.0005) were higher in patients with RLS, while PHQ-9 scores were not different. A logistic regression analysis identified gender (OR 2.67; 95% CI [1.25; 5.72]), first-degree relatives with RLS (OR 3.29; 95% CI [1.11; 9.73], ESS score (OR 1.09; 95% CI [1.01; 1.17]), and rare alcohol consumption (OR 0.45; 95% CI [0.22; 0.94] as predictors for RLS. Conclusions Clinically significant RLS had a high prevalence in psychiatric patients. RLS was associated with higher BMI, impaired sleep quality, and lower alcohol consumption. A systematic assessment of restless legs symptoms might contribute to improve the treatment of psychiatric patients