Adaptive analysis of thermal comfort in university classrooms: correlation between experimental data and mathematical models

Numerous studies are in progress to support adaptive models and to establish quantitative indexes to allow the subject to optimize his comfort conditions. With the aim of finding possible correlations between experimental data and experimental surveys for moderate environments, such as university classrooms, a multiple response questionnaire was elaborated, comprehensive of information for the static and adaptive model proposed by UNI-EN-ISO 10551. The questionnaire was applied in autumn, winter and spring in classrooms of the University of Perugia, Pavia and Terni. During the campaign, all data needed to calculate both Fanger and Wray comfort indices were acquired by instrumental surveys and questionnaire compilation. By means of results analysis the following couple of parameters were correlated: Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) versus the difference between the Equivalent Uniform Temperature and the Comfort Uniform Temperature (Teu - Tu) and the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) versus the absolute value of the same difference between temperatures (|Teu - Tu|). For the first couple of parameters a linear correlation was found while for the second one a second degree polynomial relation was obtained. Finally values of Operative Temperature T0 and Equivalent Uniform Temperature Teu, obtained for each single experimental survey were compared, observing a very good agreement between the two quantities, with differences that exceed 0.1 K only for a few number of values

Bilateral dimorphism of Loewenthal's gland in young male albino rats: an ultrastructural investigation

This study represents a further contribution to our knowledge about the structure of Loewenthal's gland. There are several divergences in the available literature on the topic, concerning both the histological and ultrastructural findings. However, in these studies, the authors did not take into account the potential influence of a putative side-dependent dimorphism previously reported by us. We therefore carried out histological and electronmicroscopic observations specifically aimed at evaluating the importance of the gland shape for its structure. In particular, in male albino rats aged 70-120 days, we compared the structure of the left and right glands. Depending on the side undergoing morphological investigation, we observed differences in the acini, cells, nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and granular content. Apart from slight individual differences, we found that structural variations were most frequently observed in glands displaying a more evident macroscopic side-specific dimorphism. Our findings demonstrate that several conflicting data in the literature dealing with the structure of Loewenthal's glands might be explained by the morphofunctional side-dependent dimorphism of the organ

Illuminators’ Materials and Techniques in Fourteenth-century English Manuscripts

English illumination reached new levels of sophistication during the 1300s. Anatomically accurate depictions of the human body, evocative portrayals of emotions and draperies modelled so as to simulate palpable volume and texture are prominent among the numerous accomplishments of fourteenth-century English illuminators, but we know little about the painting materials and techniques with which they created such effects. Except for occasional acts of censorship and common issues, such as the corrosion of verdigris, the discolouration of glazes or the darkening of silver, red lead and occasionally vermilion, most manuscripts – unlike the few extant easel and wall paintings or polychrome sculptures – are in good condition and have suffered no modern intervention. This makes them the most extensive and reliable corpus for the study of medieval English painting. Fourteenth-century manuscripts (and later ones) have not yet benefited from the amount of scientific analyses undertaken on earlier material from England and Ireland, but recent studies are beginning to fill the lacuna. Since 2012, the MINIARE project has analysed over 200 manuscripts dating from the tenth to the sixteenth century and originating from Italy, Central Europe, France, Flanders and England. This paper shares the preliminary findings on twelve fourteenth-century English manuscripts

Ultra-Thin Plasma-Polymerized Functional Coatings for Biosensing: Polyacrylic Acid, Polystyrene and Their Co-Polymer

Recently, many efforts have been done to chemically functionalize sensors surface to achieve selectivity towards diagnostics targets, such as DNA, RNA fragments and protein tumoural biomarkers, through the surface immobilization of the related specific receptor. Especially, some kind of sensors such as microcantilevers (gravimetric sensors) and one-dimensional photonics crystals (optical sensors) able to couple Bloch surface waves are very sensitive. Thus, any kind of surface modifications devoted to functionalize them has to be finely controlled in terms of mass and optical characteristics, such as refractive index, to minimize the perturbation, on the transduced signal, that can affect the response sensitivity towards the detected target species

Business model innovation in SMEs engaging in innovation ecosystems. A decoupling perspective

Digital technologies have been increasingly affecting our day-to-day activities, drastically reshaping markets and society. The diffusion of new digital technologies\u2014such as social media, cloud computing, mobile computing, 3D printing, and big-data analytics \u2013 is posing firms to challenges, creating opportunities to develop radically new business models. However, despite the growing interest towards this issue, the contribute of digitalisation from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is still such an under-investigated topic. SMEs are considered a driving force in most national economies, contributing heavily to employment, innovation and economic growth, but at the same time they often suffer from lack of both financial and human resources. These weaknesses may be compensated by the inflow and outflow of knowledge and capital boosted by technological innovation and participation within innovation ecosystems. The aim of this paper is to understand, through the lens of the institutional theory, how both the relationships established within the ecosystem and the internal organizational capabilities of SMEs impact on business model innovation thanks to the adoption of digital technologies such as Internet of things, big data, and open data. To do so the authors carried out an embedded case study on an Italian Industry 4.0 project which involved several actors (e.g. food SMEs, universities, technology consulting companies, and Piedmont Region). First findings on this ongoing research show that innovation ecosystems could represent a strong driver for developing an innovative business model oriented to value co-creation provided that SMEs already own distinctive dynamic capabilities. Without these capabilities it would be difficult to fully exploit the digital opportunities arising from the relationships among the heterogeneous actors which are part of the project

A field study on thermal comfort in naturally - ventilated buildings located in the equatorial climatic region of Cameroon

The purpose of this research is to create a thermal comfort data base in three climatic regions in Cameroon. This will help to define guidelines for constructing more comfortable buildings in Cameroon. There is not enough data regarding comfort in residential environment in the inter tropical sub Saharan Africa. Thus experimental and subjective results of hygrometric thermal comfort conducted in 290 buildings located in three cities of the equatorial climatic zone of Cameroon is presented. An adaptive approach according to ASHRAE55/2004, ISO7730 and 10551 was adopted. A specific questionnaire has been elaborated for the investigation. 710 questionnaires in the dry season and 410 in the rainy season were distributed to inhabitants and filled while different experimental value of indoor parameters were measured. The comfortable temperature ranges for the three cities was found between 22. 1 C and 29.1 C. The 61.24 % of voters found acceptable their thermal habitat, the 13.72% considered it neutral

AMDA: an R package for the automated microarray data analysis

BACKGROUND: Microarrays are routinely used to assess mRNA transcript levels on a genome-wide scale. Large amount of microarray datasets are now available in several databases, and new experiments are constantly being performed. In spite of this fact, few and limited tools exist for quickly and easily analyzing the results. Microarray analysis can be challenging for researchers without the necessary training and it can be time-consuming for service providers with many users. RESULTS: To address these problems we have developed an automated microarray data analysis (AMDA) software, which provides scientists with an easy and integrated system for the analysis of Affymetrix microarray experiments. AMDA is free and it is available as an R package. It is based on the Bioconductor project that provides a number of powerful bioinformatics and microarray analysis tools. This automated pipeline integrates different functions available in the R and Bioconductor projects with newly developed functions. AMDA covers all of the steps, performing a full data analysis, including image analysis, quality controls, normalization, selection of differentially expressed genes, clustering, correspondence analysis and functional evaluation. Finally a LaTEX document is dynamically generated depending on the performed analysis steps. The generated report contains comments and analysis results as well as the references to several files for a deeper investigation. CONCLUSION: AMDA is freely available as an R package under the GPL license. The package as well as an example analysis report can be downloaded in the Services/Bioinformatics section of the Genopoli