Prototyping the BOPTEST framework for simulation-based testing of advanced control strategies in buildings

Advanced control strategies are becoming increasingly necessary in buildings in order to meet and balance requirements for energy efficiency, demand flexibility, and occupant comfort. Additional development and widespread adoption of emerging control strategies, however, ultimately require low implementation costs to reduce payback period and verified performance to gain control vendor, building owner, and operator trust. This is difficult in an already first-cost driven and risk-averse industry. Recent innovations in building simulation can significantly aid in meeting these requirements and spurring innovation at early stages of development by evaluating performance, comparing state-of-the-art to new strategies, providing installation experience, and testing controller implementations. This paper presents the development of a simulation framework consisting of test cases and software platform for the testing of advanced control strategies (BOPTEST - Building Optimization Performance Test). The objectives and requirements of the framework, components of a test case, and proposed software platform architecture are described, and the framework is demonstrated with a prototype implementation and example test case

Actin Nemaline Myopathy Mouse Reproduces Disease, Suggests Other Actin Disease Phenotypes and Provides Cautionary Note on Muscle Transgene Expression

Mutations in the skeletal muscle α-actin gene (ACTA1) cause congenital myopathies including nemaline myopathy, actin aggregate myopathy and rod-core disease. The majority of patients with ACTA1 mutations have severe hypotonia and do not survive beyond the age of one. A transgenic mouse model was generated expressing an autosomal dominant mutant (D286G) of ACTA1 (identified in a severe nemaline myopathy patient) fused with EGFP. Nemaline bodies were observed in multiple skeletal muscles, with serial sections showing these correlated to aggregates of the mutant skeletal muscle α-actin-EGFP. Isolated extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles were significantly weaker than wild-type (WT) muscle at 4 weeks of age, coinciding with the peak in structural lesions. These 4 week-old mice were ∼30% less active on voluntary running wheels than WT mice. The α-actin-EGFP protein clearly demonstrated that the transgene was expressed equally in all myosin heavy chain (MHC) fibre types during the early postnatal period, but subsequently became largely confined to MHCIIB fibres. Ringbinden fibres, internal nuclei and myofibrillar myopathy pathologies, not typical features in nemaline myopathy or patients with ACTA1 mutations, were frequently observed. Ringbinden were found in fast fibre predominant muscles of adult mice and were exclusively MHCIIB-positive fibres. Thus, this mouse model presents a reliable model for the investigation of the pathobiology of nemaline body formation and muscle weakness and for evaluation of potential therapeutic interventions. The occurrence of core-like regions, internal nuclei and ringbinden will allow analysis of the mechanisms underlying these lesions. The occurrence of ringbinden and features of myofibrillar myopathy in this mouse model of ACTA1 disease suggests that patients with these pathologies and no genetic explanation should be screened for ACTA1 mutations

Comparative Study on Local e-Government “Romania and Turkey”

This paper is designed as a comparative study between Romania and Turkey on certain aspects of local electronic government elements of several localities of those 2 countries. The differences between the countries considered in this study are not neglected, starting with culture (organizational, but not only) and ending with economic aspects. In the paper we will present: the IT framework in which public administration operates (with features on each country); macroeconomic issues with direct impact on the development of e-government - where we present financial information on investments in IT sector in both countries; and the municipal web sites analysis of the countries – were we try to find, using a predefined scale, common elements and differences that arise when we look at the development of the local e-government. Objectives: We will find out why Internet users in Turkey visit and interact more frequently with the Local Administration Web Site than those in Romania. The intention is to build the architecture of a Web site designed to provide good interaction to citizens. Approach: This paper is an in-depth analysis of official web sites of town halls. We used a predefined scale taken from similar studies, but adapted to extract relevant elements. For a more accurate study we compared cities were the difference (in terms of finance and inhabitants) is not too big. Results: As a result we will find out why Internet users in Turkey visit and interact more frequently with the Local Administration Web Site than those in Romania. The Value of this article is the comparative study itself, by this, we may start developing better Web sites, dedicated to the use of citizens

A Finite Element Study of the Bending Behavior of Beams Resting on Two-Parameter Elastic Foundation

Although the Winkler’s model is a poor representation of the many practical subgrade or subbase materials, it is widely used in soil-structure problems for almost one and a half century. The foundations represented by Winkler model can not sustain shear stresses, and hence discontinuity of adjacent spring displacements can occur. This is the prime shortcoming of this foundation model which in practical applications may result in significant inaccuracies in the evaluated structural response. In order to overcome these problem many researchers have been proposed various mechanical foundation models considering interaction with the surroundings. Among them we shall mention the class of two-parameter foundations -- named like this because they have the second parameter which introduces interactions between adjacent springs, in addition to the first parameter from the ordinary Winkler’s model. This class of models includes Filonenko-Borodich, Pasternak, generalized, and Vlasov foundations. Mathematically, the equations to describe the reaction of the two-parameter foundations arc equilibrium ones, and the only difference is the definition of the parameters. For the convenience of discussion, the Pasternak foundation is adopted in present paper. In order to analyse the bending behavior of a Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on two-parameter elastic foundation a (displacement) Finite Element (FE) formulation, based on the cubic displacement function of the governing differential equation, is introduced. The resulting effects of shear stiffness of the Pasternak model on the mechanical quantities are discussed in comparison with those of the Winkler’s model. Some numerical case studies illustrate the accuracy of the formulation and the importance of the soil shearing effect in the vertical direction, associated with continuous elastic foundation