Occupant interactions and effectiveness of natural ventilation strategies in contemporary new housing in Scotland, UK

The need to reduce carbon emissions and fuel poverty has led to increased building envelope air tightness, intended to reduce uncontrolled ventilation heat losses. Ventilation strategies in dwellings still allow the use of trickle ventilators in window frames for background ventilation. The extent to which this results in “healthy” Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in recently constructed dwellings was a concern of regulators in Scotland. This paper describes research to explore this. First a review of literature was conducted, then data on occupant interactions with ventilation provisions (windows, doors, trickle vents) gathered through an interview-based survey of 200 recently constructed dwellings, and measurements made on a sample of 40 of these. The main measured parameter discussed here is CO2 concentration. It was concluded after the literature review that 1000 ppm absolute was a reasonable threshold to use for “adequate” ventilation. The occupant survey found that there was very little occupant interaction with the trickle ventilators e.g., in bedrooms 63% were always closed, 28% always open, and in only 9% of cases occupants intervened to make occasional adjustments. In the measured dwellings average bedroom CO2 levels of 1520 ppm during occupied (night time) hours were observed. Where windows were open the average bedroom CO2 levels were 972 ppm. With windows closed, the combination of “trickle ventilators open plus doors open” gave an average of 1021 ppm. “Trickle ventilators open” gave an average of 1571 ppm. All other combinations gave averages of 1550 to 2000 ppm. Ventilation rates and air change rates were estimated from measured CO2 levels, for all dwellings calculated ventilation rate was less than 8 L/s/p, in 42% of cases calculated air change rate was less than 0.5 ach. It was concluded that trickle ventilation as installed and used is ineffective in meeting desired ventilation rates, evidenced by high CO2 levels reported across the sampled dwellings. Potential implications of the results are discussed

Hadronic Antenna Patterns to Distinguish Production Mechanisms for Large-ETE_T jets

Hadronic antenna patterns provide a tool able to diagnose different patterns of colour flow in large-E_T jet events. They reflect the underlying short-distance dynamics, and are sensitive to colour coherence and interference between the initial- and final-state partons. We discuss how hadronic antenna patterns may be used on large-E_T events from the Fermilab Tevatron or the CERN LHC to distinguish between conventional QCD and new physics production mechanisms such as a possible Z' boson or compositeness

Investigation of Occupier Influence on Indoor Air Quality in Dwellings

The aim of the research was to investigate dwelling occupant interaction with natural ventilation components and record levels of indoor air quality. The project also identifies options for making natural ventilation in dwellings a robust strategy

The value of structural diversity: assessing diversity for a sustainable research base

This report is about structural diversity - the diversity of disciplines, institutions and support mechanisms. Structural diversity is a property of a ‘strong’ research base that not only produces great research today but also has the capacity to address new challenges flexibly and responsively tomorrow. It is distinct from the contribution made by social diversity - the diversity of gender, nationality and ethnicity - to productivity, innovation and social cohesion. We need to assess diversity for future research just as much as we evaluate achievement for past research. Research assessment is usually a retrospective analysis of historical data whether it uses grant income, staff capacity, publication output, or citation impact. This is a very limited perspective for policy and investment. It is a skewed view of what might be important for the future of the research base. Awarding more funds to institutions and teams that did well last year is a safe bet only so long as next year looks similar. But the pace of discovery is accelerating, challenges change, new fields emerge and we lack the foresight to predict where demands and the breakthroughs will come next. The capacity to support excellence and respond to opportunity comes from: • Diversity of research fields: A broader range of disciplines supports exceptional levels of research excellence, fed through a network of institutions of regional and international significance (Evidence, 2002; Evidence, 2003). • Diversity in support which gives flexibility of research support to allow a mix of long and short term responses and includes strategic and responsive awards: Government has consistently argued that diverse funding mechanisms are required to enable curiosity-driven research and evolving, targeted programs of high policy priority or scientific need (Cabinet Office, 1993). • Diversity of research organisations, where mission-led units complement large and small universities with regional as well as international engagement: UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Bob May showed that research economies with a strong university research base performed consistently better than those committed to narrow, mission-led research institutes (May, 1997). Because of our uncertainty about the future we need an agile and responsive research base. So why is this agility not core to the assessment of research and innovation? Diversity in the structure of the research system has been overlooked and under-researched because it is in practice a tricky concept to turn into a hard definition, and even trickier to quantify

Rapid creation and quantitative monitoring of high coverage shRNA libraries.

Short hairpin RNA libraries are limited by low efficacy of many shRNAs and by off-target effects, which give rise to false negatives and false positives, respectively. Here we present a strategy for rapidly creating expanded shRNA pools (approximately 30 shRNAs per gene) that are analyzed by deep sequencing (EXPAND). This approach enables identification of multiple effective target-specific shRNAs from a complex pool, allowing a rigorous statistical evaluation of true hits

Self-monitoring dysfunction and the schizophrenic symptoms of alien control

Background. Frith & Done (1988) have proposed that the experience of alien control symptoms in schizophrenia is related to a failure by such individuals to monitor effectively their own willed intentions, actions and thoughts. Method. To examine this hypothesis, a heterogeneous group of 35 patients, all carrying a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia (or schizophreniform psychosis) and 24 non-patient controls, completed a battery of neuropsychological and cognitive tests, which inter alia, included four putative measures of self-monitoring. Patients took part in a detailed clinical interview to assess current levels of symptomatology. Results. Patients generally performed at a lower level on most components of the test battery, including the four self-monitoring tests. Moreover, patients currently experiencing symptoms of alien control tended to experience greater difficulty with each of the self-monitoring tests; an effect that was relatively independent of neuropsychological or general cognitive function. Conclusions. The relationship between poor self-monitoring and the presence of alien control symptoms provides support for Frith & Done's account of the origins of these symptoms in schizophrenia