Energy Information Systems: From the Basement to the Boardroom

A significant buildings energy reduction opportunity exists in the office sector, given that this market segment typically is an early adopter of new technology. There is a rising trend towards smart and connected offices through the internet of things (IoT) that provides new opportunities for operational efficiency and environmental sustainability practices. Leading commercial real estate companies have begun to shift from individual building automation systems (BAS) to partially integrated and automated systems such as energy information systems (EIS). In both the United States and India, organizations are seeking operational excellence, enhanced tenant relationships, and topline growth. Hence it is imperative to engage the executives with decision-making power, by tapping into their interest in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and innovation. This expansion of interest can enable data-driven decisions, strong energy investments, and deeper energy benefits, and would drive innovation in this field. However, none of this would be possible without robust, consistent building energy information to provide visibility across all the levels of decision making, i.e. from the basement where the facilities staff take operational action to the boardroom where the executives make investment decisions. Price, security, and ease of use remain barriers to the adoption and pervasive use of promising EIS technologies in commercial office buildings. We believe that these barriers can be addressed through the development of ready, simplified, consistent, commercially available, low-cost EIS-in-a-box packages, that have a pre-defined set of hardware components and software features and functionality that are pertinent to a particular building sector. These simplified, sector-specific EIS packages can help to obviate the need for customization, and enhance ease of use, thereby enabling scale-up, in order to facilitate building energy savings. The EIS-in-a-box are adaptable in both U.S. and Indian office buildings, and potentially beyond these two countries

Dual Task Cost of Motor and Cognitive Performance in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by both motor, non-motor symptoms, as well as cognitive changes. Given the background of this disease, and the impact external stimulation has on exacerbating symptoms, it is hypothesized that (1) verbal fluency dual task walking conditions will be associated with slower gait speed, and (2) verbal fluency tasks performed in sitting will yield faster and more accurate response rates than walking verbal fluency tasks. To evaluate motor performance, participants were asked to ambulate at their self-selected speed for 3 ST and 3 DT trials across a 10m walkway. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to identify differences between the ST & DT conditions for both motor and cognitive performance. The results indicate that in individuals with PD, the accuracy and quantity of responses decrease, which may jeopardize their ability to effectively perform multiple tasks. The heterogeneous nature of the subjects might indicate providing individualized interventions.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2023/1062/thumbnail.jp

Predicting specificity in bZIP coiled-coil protein interactions

We present a method for predicting protein-protein interactions mediated by the coiled-coil motif. When tested on interactions between nearly all human and yeast bZIP proteins, our method identifies 70% of strong interactions while maintaining that 92% of predictions are correct. Furthermore, cross-validation testing shows that including the bZIP experimental data significantly improves performance. Our method can be used to predict bZIP interactions in other genomes and is a promising approach for predicting coiled-coil interactions more generally

SPAR - Positive Intervention Application Plan for Ashoka University

Ashoka University, a distinguished liberal arts university that is the intellectual home to over 900 hundred undergraduate and graduate students in Sonepat, India. We present here a program to enhance well-being based on the fundamentals of positive psychology. The program can start with a pilot and then be scaled using either trained professionals or trained peer counselors. The components of the program include strengths, positive relationships, attention and resilience thus forming the acronym SPAR. We have designed the program to take place in four 90-minute sessions ideal for the Young India Fellowship Fellows schedule of five-week semesters. It is equally applicable to undergraduates and could also be rolled out for faculty and staff if desired. We include a slide deck that is ready to use for the first session

SPAR - Positive Intervention Application Plan for Ashoka University

Ashoka University, a distinguished liberal arts university that is the intellectual home to over 900 hundred undergraduate and graduate students in Sonepat, India. We present here a program to enhance well-being based on the fundamentals of positive psychology. The program can start with a pilot and then be scaled using either trained professionals or trained peer counselors. The components of the program include strengths, positive relationships, attention and resilience thus forming the acronym SPAR. We have designed the program to take place in four 90-minute sessions ideal for the Young India Fellowship Fellows schedule of five-week semesters. It is equally applicable to undergraduates and could also be rolled out for faculty and staff if desired. We include a slide deck that is ready to use for the first session

Exploring multi-stakeholder value co-creation as an entrepreneurial approach to survival and sustainability: The case of Pennine Pubs

This case focuses on the entrepreneurial use of multi-stakeholder value co-creation to emerge stronger from challenging trading conditions. In particular, it examines Pennine Pubs, a small- / medium-sized enterprise (SME) operating several rural public houses, which are licensed to sell food and alcoholic drinks to guests. Based in Northern England, it has adapted commercial strategies to mitigate government-enforced Covid-19 lockdowns. Pennine Pubs’ Managing Director is currently considering how to build upon the multi-stakeholder value co-creation strategy which emerged quickly immediately before and during the first lockdown period, when customers were prohibited from visiting pubs. He expects the outcome to be a more refined and sustainable commercial strategy which retains the most significant benefits of his lockdown-period innovations. The case considers how co-creation is applied as a reaction to unforeseen business challenges, and how it can underpin proactive strategies to capitalise upon favourable trading conditions. The concept is explored in the context of rapidly evolving, unpredictable, and highly problematic constraints upon retail trade, and the ‘new normal’ of customers returning to retail premises, albeit with expectations modified by recent experiences. Finally, the case considers the impact of SMEs collaborating with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders to co-create mutual, commercially sustainable value