Buildings behaving badly:A behavioral experiment on how different motivational frames influence residential energy label adoption in the Netherlands

Heating buildings contributes to approximately 36% of Europe’s energy demand and several EU member states have adopted mandatory energy labels to improve energy efficiency by promoting home weatherization investments. This paper focuses on the perception of the energy label for residential buildings in the Netherlands and the role of different frames (egoistic, biospheric and social norms and neutral frames) in motivating adoption of energy labels for housing. We used a behavioral email experiment and an online survey to investigate these motivational factors. We find that biospheric frames are weaker than the other three motivational frames in terms of engaging interest in the energy label, but that the biospheric frame results in higher willingness to pay (WTP) for the energy label. We also find that age (rather than income) correlates with higher willingness to pay for home energy labels

A scalable, fully automated process for construction of sequence-ready human exome targeted capture libraries

Genome targeting methods enable cost-effective capture of specific subsets of the genome for sequencing. We present here an automated, highly scalable method for carrying out the Solution Hybrid Selection capture approach that provides a dramatic increase in scale and throughput of sequence-ready libraries produced. Significant process improvements and a series of in-process quality control checkpoints are also added. These process improvements can also be used in a manual version of the protocol

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effect of Therapeutic Ultrasound on Tissue Extensibility

In physical therapy practice, therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) is a thermal modality that can be used to treat several impairments related to musculoskeletal conditions. For example, TUS can be used on a patient who experiences a loss in range of motion (ROM) by treating tissue extensibility. TUS treats tissue extensibility by converting electrical energy into mechanical acoustic energy, causing vibrations of the crystal with the soundhead, and producing vibration in the soundhead. The absorption of the TUS energy increases the extensibility of collagen fibers, which causes an increase in tissue extensibility, thereby increasing ROM. Throughout the course of this project, literature was investigated regarding the effectiveness of TUS on tissue extensibility. The research aims to determine if TUS is appropriate for treating tissue extensibility on participants who experienced a loss in ROM

Developing a benchmark model for fan blade-out analysis

The development of future aircraft concepts will require a bold move away from conventional designs in order to meet environmental and performance goals. Extreme events, such as a Fan Blade-Off, can have significant influence on the design of the overall aircraft. Detailed simulation of Fan Blade-Off is computationally expensive and engine models contain a lot of design detail which may not be available at early-design stages, making it difficult to quickly analyse possible new concepts. Considering the lack of empirical data, novel modelling approaches will need to be investigated. The ability to assess these scenarios at early design stages with commensurate accuracy will help to avoid costly re-design later in the process. Additionally, by ensuring the analysis methods used are efficient both in terms of required design data and computational time, greater design variation can be investigated at relatively low cost. This paper will be focused on the development of a baseline finite element model that is representative of a commercial aircraft powerplant and can capture the expected structural behaviours during the initial stages of a Fan Blade-Off event. The model is a mid-fidelity dynamic explicit LS-Dyna model. It is constructed with shell and beam elements, and has been developed considering appropriate properties, materials, connections, pre-loading and contact. Overall powerplant response, the interaction of the engine/nacelle as well as the load transfer between the components and loads at the mounts are evaluated. The behaviour of the model is assessed by examining key performance metrics and benchmarked against available information from literature.<br/

Sex, social mores, and keyword filtering: Microsoft Bing in the &#039;Arabian Countries&#039;

&nbsp; Microsoft recently added a new layer of complexity to the ongoing debate regarding the filtering and censorship practices of U.S. search engines via its own search engine, Bing. ONI testing reveals liberal filtering by Bing in one of the most censored regions in the world: the Arab countries. Microsoft’s Bing, which tailors its search engine to serve different countries and regions and offers its services in 41 languages, has a filtering system at the keyword level for users in several countries. Users in the Arab countries—or, as termed by Microsoft—“Arabian countries”—are prevented from conducting certain search queries in both English and Arabic. ONI testing reveals that Microsoft filters Arabic and English keywords that could yield sex- or LGBT-related images and content