23 research outputs found
The impact of occupantsâ behaviours on building energy analysis: A research review
Over the past 15 years, the evaluation of energy demand and use in buildings has become increasingly acute due to growing scientific and political pressure around the world in response to climate change. The estimation of the use of energy in buildings is therefore a critical process during the design stage. This paper presents a review of the literature published in leading journals through Science Direct and Scopus databases within this research domain to establish research trends, and importantly, to identify research gaps for future investigation. It has been widely acknowledged in the literature that there is an alarming performance gap between the predicted and actual energy consumption of buildings (sometimes this has been up to 300% difference). Analysis of the impact of occupantsâ behaviour has been largely overlooked in building energy performance analysis. In short, energy simulation tools utilise climatic data and physical/ thermal properties of building elements in their calculations, and the impact of occupants is only considered through means of fixed and scheduled patterns of behaviour. This research review identified a number of areas for future research including: larger scale analysis (e.g. urban analysis); interior design, in terms of space layout, and fixtures and fittings on occupantsâ behaviour; psychological cognitive behavioural methods; and the integration of quantitative and qualitative research findings in energy simulation tools to name but a few
Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study
Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking
fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have
evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role
of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse
community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from
24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and
Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a
median of 10 years offollow up (âŒ2005â2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to
examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors
contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported
changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582)
switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas,
electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean
to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels
Germline selection shapes human mitochondrial DNA diversity.
Approximately 2.4% of the human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome exhibits common homoplasmic genetic variation. We analyzed 12,975 whole-genome sequences to show that 45.1% of individuals from 1526 mother-offspring pairs harbor a mixed population of mtDNA (heteroplasmy), but the propensity for maternal transmission differs across the mitochondrial genome. Over one generation, we observed selection both for and against variants in specific genomic regions; known variants were more likely to be transmitted than previously unknown variants. However, new heteroplasmies were more likely to match the nuclear genetic ancestry as opposed to the ancestry of the mitochondrial genome on which the mutations occurred, validating our findings in 40,325 individuals. Thus, human mtDNA at the population level is shaped by selective forces within the female germ line under nuclear genetic control, which ensures consistency between the two independent genetic lineages.NIHR, Wellcome Trust, MRC, Genomics Englan
An electroosmotic peristaltic flow of graphene-lubrication oil nanofluid through a symmetric channel
The purpose of this manuscript is to analyze the electroosmotic peristaltic motion of graphene-lubrication oil nanofluid. Rheological characteristics of such fluids are predicted by using the Carreauâs model. Effects of magnetic field, electric field, viscous dissipation, Joule heating, Brownian motion and thermophoresis are also reckoned. Debye-HĂŒckel linearization and lubrication approach are employed in mathematical modeling. Obtained non-linear system of equations are analytically solved by using the builtin command NdSolve and parametric study is carried out to visualize the variation in temperature, velocity, heat transfer rate, concentration profiles, pressure gradient and pressure rise per wavelength. Results unveil that strong electroosmotic parameter enhances both velocity and temperature. Temperature and velocity decline on the enlargement of the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity. Variation in electroosmotic parameter decreases and Helmholtz-Smoluchowski velocity increases mass transfer rate. Pumping region can also be maintained by thickening and thinning the Electric Double Layer (EDL). Present study has useful applications in industries, defect sensor, energy saving, domestic air conditioning, cooling power electronic components and heat extraction and heat transportation