Why advanced buildings don't work?

The intent of policy is to achieve robust comfortable low energy buildings. However there are obvious policy disconnects and, where there is evidence, it appears that in general advanced buildings do not achieve their intended performance. There are many industry and policy initiatives aimed at improving industry processes such as: Soft Landings, BREEAM, LEED, Green Star, AGBR and BIM. In this paper the performance of buildings likely to be promoted by current policy is investigated and a number of significant and recurring problems identified. The possibility that these problems will be resolved by current initiatives is discussed and it is concluded that important gaps remain to be addressed

Farm-gate N and P balances and use efficiencies across specialist dairy farms in the Republic Ireland

working paperThis study establishes farm gate N and P balances and use efficiencies based on the average of 2 years of Teagasc National Farm Survey data in 2009 and 2010. The weighted average farm gate N surplus for this nationally representative sample of specialist dairy farms was 143.4 kg N ha-1. Average farm gate nitrogen use efficiency was 23.2%. For dairy farms operating under an EU Nitrates Derogation, the average N surplus was higher at 181.8 kg N ha-1 and averageN use efficiency was slightly lower at 22.2%. The total average farm gate P balance was 4.1 kg ha-1 in surplus, and P use efficiency averaged 83.9%. P balance ranged from -7.3 to 23.0 kg ha-1. A total of 27% had a negative P balance. The average P surplus for farms with a Nitrates Derogation was below the average of all farms at 3.5 kg P ha-1 and average P use efficiency for these Derogation farms was above the average of all farms at 90%

Using Sparse Semantic Embeddings Learned from Multimodal Text and Image Data to Model Human Conceptual Knowledge

Distributional models provide a convenient way to model semantics using dense embedding spaces derived from unsupervised learning algorithms. However, the dimensions of dense embedding spaces are not designed to resemble human semantic knowledge. Moreover, embeddings are often built from a single source of information (typically text data), even though neurocognitive research suggests that semantics is deeply linked to both language and perception. In this paper, we combine multimodal information from both text and image-based representations derived from state-of-the-art distributional models to produce sparse, interpretable vectors using Joint Non-Negative Sparse Embedding. Through in-depth analyses comparing these sparse models to human-derived behavioural and neuroimaging data, we demonstrate their ability to predict interpretable linguistic descriptions of human ground-truth semantic knowledge.Comment: Proceedings of the 22nd Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (CoNLL 2018), pages 260-270. Brussels, Belgium, October 31 - November 1, 2018. Association for Computational Linguistic

The Third Dimension of Reading the Sugar Code by Lectins

Coding of biological information is not confined to nucleic acids and proteins. Endowed with the highest level of structural versatility among biomolecules, the glycan chains of cellular glycoconjugates are well-suited to generate molecular messages/signals in a minimum of space. The sequence and shape of oligosaccharides as well as spatial aspects of multivalent presentation are assumed to underlie the natural specificity/selectivity that cellular glycans have for endogenous lectins. In order to eventually unravel structure-activity profiles cyclic scaffolds have been used as platforms to produce glycoclusters and afford valuable tools. Using adhesion/growth-regulatory galectins and the pan-galectin ligand lactose as a model, emerging insights into the potential of cyclodextrins, cyclic peptides, calixarenes and glycophanes for this purpose are presented herein. The systematic testing of lectin panels with spatially defined ligand presentations can be considered as a biomimetic means to help clarify the mechanisms, which lead to the exquisite accuracy at which endogenous lectins select their physiological counterreceptors from the complexity of the cellular glycome

Corporate Social performance and Financial Characteristics

Whereas firms traditionally have been evaluated solely on financial criteria, contemporary firms are also evaluated on various non-financial criteria, including Corporate Social Performance (CSP). Such data is useful in the pursuit of evidence of a relationship between CSP and various financial characteristics, including financial performance. Evidence on such relationships is valuable from many perspectives. It is valuable to managers who seek to improve their understanding of the ways in which CSP interacts with firm characteristics, it is valuable to investors who seek to improve their understanding of how CSP relates to financial asset characteristics, and ultimately it is valuable to regulators who seek to improve their understanding of the firms financial incentive to self-regulate on corporate social responsibility issues. This paper presents a cross-sectional analysis comparing environmental, social and corporate governance performance with financial characteristics of 237 Australian firms over the August 1997 to July 2003 period. The analysis allows for some heterogeneity in CSP-financial characteristics relationships related to company size, trading history and industry, which provides valuable additional information on such relationships. Findings indicate that the financial incentive to self-regulate on environmental criteria is weak and contingent on industry. The financial incentive to self-regulate on social criteria is marginally stronger and less contingent on industry. The financial incentive to self-regulate on governance criteria is very strong across the board, though it is particularly strong within the banking, diversified financials, insurance and telecommunications industries. This is indicated both by a significant positive association between governance and financial performance and very strong significant negative association between governance and risk. Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Corporate Monitor and the Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific (SIRCA) for supplying data and support.Corporate environmental performance, corporate social performance, corporate governance performance

« Pauvres enfants d’Ève en exil » : Tom Murphy et la syntaxe de l’histoire

Dans les pièces Bailegangaire (1985) et A Thief of a Christmas (1985), Tom Murphy aborde des questions liées à la représentation des Irlandaises d’origine rurale, opprimées par un système social hiérarchique d’abord sous le gouvernement colonial britannique et, ensuite, sous le gouvernement postcolonial nationaliste, catholique et bourgeois. Paul Murphy soutient que Tom Murphy crée dans ses pièces des lieux où les discours réprimés peuvent s’exprimer et contredire l’histoire dite « officielle » qui émane d’un discours nationaliste catholique bourgeois. Ce chercheur dépasse la vision prédominante du théâtre irlandais centrée sur la question identitaire pour aborder plutôt des questions éthiques liées à la subordination des classes. Il participe ainsi au débat contemporain historiographique en Irlande autour du rapport antagoniste qui oppose le nationalisme et le révisionnisme.In the plays Bailegangaire (1985) and A Thief of a Christmas (1985), Tom Murphy explores questions linked to the representation of working-class rural women who were subject to class and gender hierarchies during the British colonial administration of Ireland, as they were under the postcolonial Catholic bourgeois nationalist government. Paul Murphy defends the point of view that Tom Murphy creates forums in which repressed discourses may contradict official hegemonic catholic nationalist and bourgeois readings. The author of this article moves beyond a reading of Irish theatre grounded in identitarian paradigms of nation and nationalism, and engages with ethical issues of class and gender subordination. He thus participates in a contemporary debate specific to Irish historiography surrounding the antagonistic relationship that opposes nationalism and revisionism

Bounds on axion parameters from supernova emission

The strong CP problem and axion theory are introduced. The existing bounds on the axion mass m(_a) and decay constant F(_a) are reviewed along with the recent bounds which were derived as a result of the supernova SN1987A.Current supernova theory is described. The method of terrestrial detection of supernova neutrinos is outlined. The neutrino detections from SN1987A and their importance in confirming theoretical expectations are explained. The methods of obtaining axion constraints from the limits on their production in the newly born neutron star at the centre of a supernova axe described. Particular emphasis is placed on the process NN → NNa, which is known as axion-nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung. The process pp → ppπ(^0) is studied since this is similar to NN → NNa. One boson exchange (OBE) models of the inter-nucleon potential are employed. Although OBE Born approximation amplitudes give the right order of magnitude for σ(_pp→ppx0), a good fit to the data can not be obtained with these alone. Further study would be required to determine the best theoretical form for the pp pp → ppπ(^0) matrix element and thus the NN → NNa matrix element. Axion energy production rate in a nascent neutron star is studied. OBE models are used to give a representation for the NN -» NNa matrix element. Relativistic kinematics is employed. Errors in, and omissions from, the work of previous authors are discussed. It is concluded that, despite various theoretical deficiencies, previous estimates of axion emission rate were not unreasonable. The density dependence of the nucleon mass is briefly considered and it is concluded that large changes in the axion emission rate can result. Further study of this matter would-be useful