BALANCING THE BUDGET THROUGH REVENUE OR SPENDING ADJUSTMENTS? THE CASE OF GREECE

This paper examines the solvency of the Greek fiscal policy. Employing a cointegrated VAR as a benchmark, evidence of a long-run link between revenues and spending is presented, although intertemporal solvency is violated. Utilizing Granger-causality tests, a test for fiscal adjustment neutrality and Generalized Impulse Responses, this paper provides evidence in favor of the ¡®tax and spend¡¯ hypothesis for Greece. Additionally, the empirical evidence indicates that fiscal adjustment should take place through spending rather than revenue adjustment.Budget Balance, Government Revenue and Spending, Causality, Generalized Impulse Responses, Greece

Improved facades for office buildings, case study: Wates House

In the context of climate change and the need to decarbonise the building sector, the present thesis sets off to investigate the potential of cutting down on the carbon footprint of buildings, particularly office and commercial, by applying improved facade systems. Moreover, facade options are compared, in order to examine the effect they have on building performance and appearance. Various facade options were researched in literature, and the findings were applied and tested in re-cladding a case study building. The re-cladding options can be divided in three groups according to the strategies applied improved thermal conductivity of the envelop, use of sola shading devices and responsive solar transmittance of glazing, by applying electrochromic technology. They were tested through building simulation software TAS. The key issues of the building performance evaluated are the heating loads and the potential of overheating- which is connected with the use of air-conditioning. Analysis of BIPVs and cost analysis cover additional issues related with the facade options. After the research and evaluation of the facade options, the preferable option for re-cladding the case study building was found the use of electrochromic glazing. This conclusion covers not only the environmental performance but also the value of this option on the image of the building. The study concluded that improved facades can significantly reduce- about 90%- carbon footprint of the aging office building stock. It is also indicated the energy demand is not the only criterion when evaluating a facade performance, since a much wider range of issues are related, such as cost, payback period, health and comfort of the occupants and architectural appeal of the building

Cyclic voltammetry peaks due to deep level traps in Si nanowire array electroes

When metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) is used to increase the effective surface area of Si electrodes for electrochemical capacitors, it is often found that the cyclic voltammetry characteristics contain anodic and cathodic peaks. We link these peaks to the charging-discharging dynamics of deep level traps within the nanowire system. The trap levels are associated with the use of Ag in the MACE process that can leave minute amounts of Ag residue within the nanowire system to interact with the H2O layer surrounding the nanowires in a room temperature ionic liquid. The influence of the traps can be removed by shifting the Fermi level away from the trap levels via spin-on doping. These results in lower capacitance values but improved charge-discharge cycling behavior. Low-frequency noise measurements proof the presence or absence of these deep level traps

Textile Membrane for Façade Retrofitting: Exploring Fabric Potentialities for the Development of Innovative Strategies

The European building stock demands urgent renovation due to the age of the buildings, their expected lifetime, and their excessive energy consumption, which accounts for more than a third of the EU’s total emissions. However, the complexities involved, such as time, costs, and structural modifications, often discourage clients, tenants, and occupants from undergoing a building renovation process. Textile membranes, despite their long history in various architectural applica- tions, have only been employed in façades in the last decades. Their intrinsic properties, such as lightness and flexibility, together with rapid assembly and low maintenance make these materials particularly suitable for façade retrofitting. Therefore, they are worth exploring as a way to promote the development of lightweight and easy-to-assemble façade products that could help overcome the current limitations of building retrofitting efforts. This paper aims to establish relationships between textile membranes and potential building retrofit applications. To this end, this study builds on the categorization of traditional façade retrofit strategies and proposes a new classification for textile façade retrofit products. The methodology includes a comprehensive literature review of textile properties and characteristics, along with a thorough assessment through case studies, of membrane use in façade applications. A sequential investigation leads to the main outcome of identifying three clear pathways for the development of new textile-based façade products for building retrofit

Random-access scanning microscopy for 3D imaging in awake behaving animals

Understanding how neural circuits process information requires rapid measurements of activity from identified neurons distributed in 3D space. Here we describe an acousto-optic lens two-photon microscope that performs high-speed focusing and line scanning within a volume spanning hundreds of micrometers. We demonstrate its random-access functionality by selectively imaging cerebellar interneurons sparsely distributed in 3D space and by simultaneously recording from the soma, proximal and distal dendrites of neocortical pyramidal cells in awake behaving mice

Role of Atmospheric Indices in Describing Shoreline Variability Along the Atlantic Coast of Europe

Beaches are highly variable environments and respond to changes in wave forcing, themselves modulated by climate variability. Here, we analyze three high‐quality beach profile data sets to robustly investigate, for the first time, the link between shoreline change, wave forcing and climate variability along the Atlantic coast of Europe. Winter wave conditions are strongly associated with North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Western Europe Pressure Anomaly (WEPA), with WEPA explaining 50%–80% of the winter wave power variability. Shoreline variability during winter is also strongly linked to NAO and WEPA, with WEPA explaining 25% of the winter shoreline variability. Winter wave conditions and associated shoreline variability are both unrelated to El Nino Southern Oscillation. In addition to the atmospherically‐forced beach morphological response, shoreline change also depends strongly on the antecedent morphology as evidenced by significant correlations between summer/winter shoreline response and the shoreline position at the start of each season