3,314 research outputs found
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Making hurricane track data accessible
Our interactive tool allows the exploration, validation and presentation of hundreds of years of dynamically simulated storm tracks. The tracks were generated as part of a research project to improve the risk assessment of tropical storm damage by the insurance industry. The main impact of the tool is that exploratory interactive visualisation is now being used by the storm track modellers to (a) validate and improve model outputs, (b) discuss outputs with their peers (c) obtain a better understanding of the formation and development of tropical storms and (d) present examples of the behaviour of storms under different conditions to the insurance industry and others. Insights into tropical storm behaviour have been obtained and these insights are being articulated
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Designing Interactive Graphics for Validating and Interpreting Storm Track Model Outputs
We report on some initial work in which we designed interactive graphics to help climate scientists identify and extract good examples of simulated storm-tracks from a large dataset to help disseminate information to various audiences. A side-effect of this work was that the exploratory potential offered by the interactive graphics helped our climate scientist coauthors validate and interpret their data in a way that was not previously possible for them. We are extending this work to provide support for a wider range of validation and interpretative tasks, with a focus on answering questions of relevance to the insurance industry. We describe our collaborative approach, that draws on ideas from ’patchwork prototyping’ [2, 5] in which a rapid iterative process of design, implementation and testing, is used to help provide the functionality to support a set of ‘user stories’
A strategic study of energy efficient and hybrid energy system options for a multi-family building in Korea
This study is to identify performance of energy efficiency measures and to match low-carbon and renewable energy (RE) systems supplies to demands in the context of multi-family residential buildings in Korea. An approach to the evaluation of the hybrid energy systems was investigated, including consideration of heat and power demand profiles, energy system combinations, building design options and strategies for matching supply to demand. The approach is encapsulated within an integrated software environment. Building energy simulation technology was exploited to make virtual energy use data. Low-carbon and RE system modelling techniques were used to predict energy supply profiles. A series of demand/supply matching-based analyses were made to identify the effect of energy efficient demand measures (e.g. roof-top gardens, innovative underfloor heating system) and evaluate the capacity utilisation factor from the hybrid energy systems. On the basis of performance information obtained at the conceptual design stage, the design team can pinpoint the most energy efficient demand/supply combination, and consequently, maximise the impact of hybrid energy systems adoption
The role of built environment energy efficiency in a sustainable UK energy economy
Energy efficiency in the built environment can make significant contributions to a sustainable energy economy. In order to achieve this, greater public awareness of the importance of energy efficiency is required. In the short term, new efficient domestic appliances, building technologies, legislation quantifying building plant performance, and improved building regulations to include installed plant will be required. Continuing these improvements in the longer term is likely to see the adoption of small-scale renewable technologies embedded in the building fabric. Internet-based energy services will see low-cost building energy management and control delivered to the mass market in order that plant can be operated and maintained at optimum performance levels and energy savings quantified. There are many technology options for improved energy performance of the building fabric and energy systems and it's not yet clear which will prove to be the most economic. Therefore, flexibility is needed in legislation and energy-efficiency initiatives
Identifying Assessment Opportunities in Postgraduate Learning for Sustainability
Abstract This paper offers a rationale for how ESD related learning at postgraduate level can be assessed. It proposes a framework for evaluating whether assessments in Master’s level programmes align with the pedagogical approach of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). If assessment is to contribute to the overall learning process, then the nature of the assessment should reflect the pedagogy, values and principles associated with ESD. Utilising an Appreciative Inquiry model, existing models of competences for sustainable development have been used to develop the framework. The framework is not aimed at the performance of the students; rather, it is applied to the course itself to identify if assessment opportunities are in keeping with an ESD approach. The framework is applied to three examples from Master’s programmes, with which the authors are affiliated in England and Jamaica. The findings identify key characteristics that should feature in assessing learning for sustainability. The framework enabled the authors to gauge the extent to which their assessment regimes are in line with the aims, purpose and content of their programmes. While the examples cited are from the field of education, the framework can be applied to any Master’s programmes containing elements of sustainable development
The evolution of plasma parameters on a coronal source surface at 2.3 Rs during solar minimum
We analyze data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory to produce global
maps of coronal outflow velocities and densities in the regions where the solar
wind is undergoing acceleration. The maps use UV and white light coronal data
obtained from the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer and the Large Angle
Spectroscopic Coronagraph, respectively, and a Doppler dimming analysis to
determine the mean outflow velocities. The outflow velocities are defined on a
sphere at 2.3 Rs from Sun-center and are organized by Carrington Rotations
during the solar minimum period at the start of solar cycle 23. We use the
outflow velocity and density maps to show that while the solar minimum corona
is relatively stable during its early stages, the shrinkage of the north polar
hole in the later stages leads to changes in both the global areal expansion of
the coronal hole and the derived internal flux tube expansion factors of the
solar wind. The polar hole areal expansion factor and the flux tube expansion
factors (between the coronal base and 2.3 Rs) start out as super-radial but
then they become more nearly radial as the corona progresses away from solar
minimum. The results also support the idea that the largest flux tube expansion
factors are located near the coronal hole/streamer interface, at least during
the deepest part of the solar minimum period.Comment: 12 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
The dispersive self-dual Einstein equations and the Toda lattice
The Boyer-Finley equation, or -Toda equation is both a reduction
of the self-dual Einstein equations and the dispersionlesslimit of the
-Toda lattice equation. This suggests that there should be a dispersive
version of the self-dual Einstein equation which both contains the Toda lattice
equation and whose dispersionless limit is the familiar self-dual Einstein
equation. Such a system is studied in this paper. The results are achieved by
using a deformation, based on an associative -product, of the algebra
used in the study of the undeformed, or dispersionless,
equations.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX. To appear: J. Phys.
Molecular dynamics simulations of oxide memory resistors (memristors)
Reversible bipolar nano-switches that can be set and read electronically in a
solid-state two-terminal device are very promising for applications. We have
performed molecular-dynamics simulations that mimic systems with oxygen
vacancies interacting via realistic potentials and driven by an external bias
voltage. The competing short- and long-range interactions among charged mobile
vacancies lead to density fluctuations and short-range ordering, while
illustrating some aspects of observed experimental behavior, such as memristor
polarity inversion.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Simulation support for internet-based energy services
The rapidly developing Internet broadband network offers new opportunities for deploying a range of energy, environment and health-related services for people in their homes and workplaces. Several of these services can be enabled or enhanced through the application of building simulation. This paper describes the infrastructure for e-services under test within a European research project and shows the potential for simulation support for these services
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