Quantifying the aggregate thermal performance of UK holiday homes

In the UK, there are approximately 330,000 holiday homes spread across a large number of mainly privately owned sites. These homes are often sited in exposed locations, are poorly insulated and are generally heated using expensive fuels, such as electricity or LPG. There is also a lack of empirical evidence available on the in situ energy performance of these homes. Consequently, it is not possible, given the existing evidence base, to determine whether these homes suffer from the same scale of building fabric thermal ‘performance gaps’ (between assumed and realised in situ performance) that have been documented for new build UK housing. This paper presents the results obtained from undertaking detailed in situ thermal fabric tests on five new holiday homes. Whilst sample size reported here is small, the results indicate that a ‘performance gap’ exists for all of these homes. Results obtained indicate that this gap appears narrower than that documented for new build UK housing. The results also suggest that the scale of the ‘gap’ may be more a consequence of the way in which the design intent of these homes has been determined, i.e. a ‘prediction gap’

Business value of integrated BIM-based asset management

Currently, building information modelling (BIM) is largely seen as a 3D model, not as an information model or information management tool. This wrong perception of BIM and low interest in 3D asset management (AM) is one of the major reasons for the slow adoption by clients in the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The purpose of this paper is to identify the techniques and strategies of streamlining AM systems for BIM-based integration, and how the information is captured from physical assets towards BIM-based integration for clients to derive value from BIM investments. A qualitative case study strategy was used to study the strategic implementation process of integrating BIM with AM systems and the business value of BIM in AM by a large asset owner in the UK. The paper identifies key strategies in the adoption of BIM-based processes by an asset owner, the implementation process, the challenges and the benefits attained. Several barriers were identified as the challenges of adopting BIM-based processes in AM: complexity and cost associated with BIM; irrelevance of 3D geometric data in AM processes; nature of asset ownership structure; managing the asset handover process; managing change within the organisation. Organisations will have to consider the following issues in streaming asset information with BIM: the development for a clear strategy prior to adoption; connecting the strategy to the business goals; and conducting the discovery exercise to identify organisational information needs. The research addresses a significant gap in the development of techniques and strategies for asset owners to streamline BIM with AM systems and derive business value from such integration. The research context is a case study involving a large owner-operator in the UK that has been able to derive value from BIM systems in their AM processes. The key value of the paper is improving asset owners’ understanding of BIM in AM by demonstrating the implementation strategies, linkage to organisational objectives, challenges, value management process and business value of BIM in AM. Another contribution of the paper is improving the understanding of BIM, which is usually viewed as 3D models and that 3D geometric data do not have much value for AM tasks

The airtightness and air leakage characteristics of new UK holiday homes

It is estimated that in the UK, 200,000 residents live in park and holiday homes all year round, the majority of which are elderly and on low incomes. As these homes are often thermally inefficient and leaky, these residents are some of the most susceptible in society to fuel poverty. Despite this, there is a dearth of empirical data available on the in situ fabric performance of these homes. This paper presents the results obtained from undertaking a series of pressurisation tests and leakage identification on new build holiday homes. While the sample size reported is small, the results indicate almost a factor of two variation in the airtightness performance of the homes. In spite of this, all of the homes achieved an air permeability significantly lower than the default value incorporated within the industry standard Energy Efficiency Rating Calculator, suggesting that a much lower figure may be more appropriate. The results also suggest that the use of the air permeability metric within the Calculator potentially biases the performance of holiday homes due to their particular form factor, and that this bias could be mitigated against by adopting the air leakage metric within any future revisions to the Calculator

Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard

Growing practice interest in smart cities has led to calls for a less technology-oriented and more citizen-centric approach. In response, this articles investigates the citizenship mode promulgated by the smart city standard of the British Standards Institution. The analysis uses the concept of citizenship regime and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to discern key discursive frames defining the smart city and the particular citizenship dimensions brought into play. The results confirm an explicit citizenship rationale guiding the smart city (standard), although this displays some substantive shortcomings and contradictions. The article concludes with recommendations for both further theory and practice development

Biodegradability standards for carrier bags and plastic films in aquatic environments: a critical review

Plastic litter is encountered in aquatic ecosystems across the globe, including polar environments and the deep sea. To mitigate the adverse societal and ecological impacts of this waste, there has been debate on whether ‘biodegradable’ materials should be granted exemptions from plastic bag bans and levies. However, great care must be exercised when attempting to define this term, due to the broad and complex range of physical and chemical conditions encountered within natural ecosystems. Here, we review existing international industry standards and regional test methods for evaluating the biodegradability of plastics within aquatic environments (wastewater, unmanaged freshwater and marine habitats). We argue that current standards and test methods are insufficient in their ability to realistically predict the biodegradability of carrier bags in these environments, due to several shortcomings in experimental procedures and a paucity of information in the scientific literature. Moreover, existing biodegradability standards and test methods for aquatic environments do not involve toxicity testing or account for the potentially adverse ecological impacts of carrier bags, plastic additives, polymer degradation products or small (microscopic) plastic particles that can arise via fragmentation. Successfully addressing these knowledge gaps is a key requirement for developing new biodegradability standard(s) for lightweight carrier bags

Penerapan Algoritma C4.5 Pada Sistem Pakar Penyakit Aeromonas Hydrophila Ikan Mas Berbasis Mobile

ABSTRACT - Lack of knowledge on goldfish disease and limited handling of aeromonas disease in carp is often experienced by fish farmers. Therefore it is necessary action / handling to prevent carp infected by aeromonas hydrophila bacteria. Algorithm C4.5 is a decision tree classification algorithm that is widely used because it has the main advantages that can produce decision trees that are easily interpreted, has an acceptable level of accuracy, efficient in dealing with discrete and numeric attributes [5]. For that, in this research will be analyzed data of goldfish disease using data mining classification that is Algoritma C4.5 by using six parameters that is fin, stomach, skin, swimming position, red spots on body and gills. Based on the description, required a system that can represent an expert who has knowledge base and experience of goldfish disease, that is an expert system. The development of android-based smartphone sales compared to mobile phones is amazing, resulting in the rise of android-based mobile apps (Laksono, 2013). Therefore, in order to get the value of information more quickly and flexible, this expert system will be applied in the form of Andorid-based mobile applications. Of 87 cases consisting of 46 goldfish infected by aeromonas hydrophila and 41 bacteria that were not infected by aeromonas hydrophila bacteria obtained from BBPAT Sukabumi. So it can be concluded that research implemented into this mobile application can help users, especially fish farmers in diagnosing aeromonas hydrophila disease in carp.Keywords: Expert system, C4.5 algorithm, mobile application. ABSTRAK - Kurangnya pengetahuan terhadap penyakit ikan mas serta keterbatasan penanganan penyakit aeromonas pada ikan mas sering kali dialami para peternak ikan. Oleh sebab itu perlu adanya tindakan/penanganan untuk mencegah ikan mas yang terinfeksi bakteri aeromonas hydrophila. Algoritma C4.5 merupakan algoritma klasifikasi pohon keputusan yang banyak digunakan karena memiliki kelebihan utama yaitu dapat menghasilkan pohon keputusan yang mudah diinterprestasikan, memiliki tingkat akurasi yang dapat diterima, efisien dalam menangani atribut bertipe diskret dan numerik [5]. Untuk itu, dalam penelitian ini akan dilakukan analisa data penyakit ikan mas menggunakan klasifikasi data mining yakni Algoritma C4.5 dengan menggunakan enam parameter yaitu sirip, perut, kulit, posisi renang, bercak merah pada tubuh dan insang. Berdasarkan uraian tersebut, dibutuhkan sebuah sistem yang dapat mewakili seorang pakar yang memiliki basis pengetahuan dan pengalaman tentang penyakit ikan mas, yaitu sebuah sistem pakar. perkembangan penjualan smartphone berbasis android dibandingkan dengan telepon seluler sangat menakjubkan, yang mengakibatkan meningkatnya aplikasi-aplikasi mobile berbasis android  (Laksono, 2013). Oleh karena itu, agar mendapatkan nilai informasi yang lebih cepat dan fleksibel, sistem pakar ini akan diaplikasikan dalam bentuk aplikasi mobile berbasis Andorid. Dari 87 jumlah kasus yang terdiri dari 46 ikan mas yang terinfeksi bakteri aeromonas hydrophila dan 41 yang tidak terinfeksi bakteri aeromonas hydrophila yang didapat dari BBPAT Sukabumi. sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa penelitian yang diimplementasikan ke dalam aplikasi mobile ini dapat membantu para pengguna khususnya para peternak ikan dalam mendiagnosa penyakit aeromonas hydrophila pada ikan mas.Kata kunci: Sistem pakar, algoritma C4.5, aplikasi mobile

Sistem Informasi Akademik Berbasis Web Pada MTS Raudhatul Ulum Jakarta

Abstrak – Dalam membangun sistem ini penulis menggunakan alat pendukung dengan metodologi yang berorientasi objek yaitu UML karena UML mendukung bahasa pemrograman berorientasi objek atau OOP (Object Oriented Programming), aplikasi web, PHP dan MySQL, sedangkan untuk photo editor penulis menggunakan Adobe Photoshop CS3 dan Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 media untuk menuliskan scripts PHP. Browser, berfungsi untuk melihat tampilan perintah-perintah PHP yang telah dijalankan di web server. Contoh browser yaitu: Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, Firefox dalam hal ini penulis menggunakan Mozilla Firefox. Sistem yang dihasilkan dari tools diatas akan jauh lebih baik dari segi efisiensi, efektifitas, kehandalan dan fleksibilitas karena UML merupakan bahasa pemrograman yang berorientasi objek. Dan tools yang lainnya mudah dipahami karena mudah dipelajari. Kata kunci: Sistem Informasi Akademik, SIA Sekola

Shear design of HSC beams with combination of links and horizontal web steel

The existing recommendations in Eurocode 2 and the British Code of Practice for the shear design of beams are derived from research conducted essentially on normal-strength concrete (NSC) with cube strengths up to 50 MPa, and it was found that the shear strengths of high-strength concrete (HSC) members made with limestone aggregate are below the characteristic resistances of identical NSC members. Previous experimental tests have also shown that significant differences exist in the angle of crack of shear failure of NSC and HSC. This paper presents data from five beam tests, which demonstrate that HSC with limestone aggregate has a reduced shear strength compared with NSC made with gravel and thus shows a gap in knowledge in the design approach to shear resistance of HSC beams. Previous investigations have suggested that horizontal web steels can contribute to the overall shear resistance of a reinforced concrete member in conjunction with the other constituents, concrete, tension and shear steel. The paper also presents data from tests on 11 beam tests and shows that the shear resistance of HSC beams is highly dependent on dowel action resulting from horizontal web bars positioned at the centre of the depth of the beam. Past attempts to quantify this dowel action are investigated and an improved design rule is proposed