Monitoring and thermal performance evaluation of two building envelope solutions in an apartment building

A bio-based multi-layer building envelope assembly has been developed for its integration in newly built and retrofitted buildings. Forest-based materials and biocomposite profiles are used as an alternative to fossil-based insulants and metallic framing, providing a well-insulated and low-thermal-bridge technical solution. The wall assembly has been installed as the external envelope of one apartment of a housing block in Donostia-San Sebastián (Basque Country, Spain). A comparative study has been performed for the bio-based wall and the reference wall of the building. Their in-situ thermal resistance has been obtained by means of three different methods: (1) the steady-state average method, (2) a semi-dynamic method from heat balance at the internal surface, and (3) a dynamic multiple regression method. Reasonably consistent results have been obtained with the three methods: a discussion is provided on the influence of measuring periods and boundary conditions. Outputs from this experimental campaign are valuable as a counterpoint to desktop studies and tests under controlled laboratory conditions. Learnings and outputs from the present study should contribute to a better understanding of the in-situ performance of building envelope assemblies and their assessment methods

Speed limits of the laser induced phase transition in FeRh

We use ultrafast x ray diffraction and the polar time resolved magneto optical Kerr effect to study the laser induced metamagnetic phase transition in two FeRh films with thicknesses below and above the optical penetration depth. In the thin film, we identify an intrinsic timescale for the light induced nucleation of ferromagnetic FM domains in the antiferromagnetic material of 8ps, which is substantially longer than the time it takes for strain waves to traverse the film. For the inhomogeneously excited thicker film, only the optically excited near surface part transforms within 8ps. For strong excitations, we observe an additional slow rise of the FM phase, which we experimentally relate to a growth of the FM phase into the depth of the layer by comparing the transient magnetization in frontside and backside excitation geometry. In the lower lying parts of the film, which are only excited via near equilibrium heat transport, the FM phase emerges significantly slower than 8ps after heating above the transition temperatur

Accelerating the Laser Induced Phase Transition in Nanostructured FeRh via Plasmonic Absorption

By ultrafast x ray diffraction UXRD , it is shown that the laser induced magnetostructural phase transition in FeRh nanoislands proceeds faster and more complete than in continuous films. An intrinsic 8 amp; 8201;ps timescale is observed for the nucleation of ferromagnetic FM domains in the optically excited fraction of both types of samples. For the continuous film, the substrate near regions are not directly exposed to light and are only slowly transformed to the FM state after heating above the transition temperature via near equilibrium heat transport. Numerical modeling of the absorption in the investigated nanoislands reveals a strong plasmonic contribution near the FeRh MgO interface. The larger absorption and the optical excitation of the electrons in nearly the entire volume of the nanoislands enables a rapid phase transition throughout the entire volume at the intrinsic nucleation timescal

The fine structure of the comparative

The paper provides evidence for a more articulated structure of the comparative as compared with the one in Bobaljik (2012). We propose to split up Bobaljik's cmpr head into two distinct heads, C1 and C2. Looking at Czech, Old Church Slavonic and English, we show that this proposal explains a range of facts about suppletion and allomorphy. A crucial ingredient of our analysis is the claim that adjectival roots are not a-categorial, but spell out adjectival functional structure. Specifically, we argue that adjectival roots come in various types, differing in the amount of functional structure they spell out. In order to correctly model the competition between roots, we further introduce a Faithfulness Restriction on Cyclic Override, which allows us to dispense with the Elsewhere Principle