Indoor temperature changes in retrofit homes

The behavioral response (e.g. changes in indoor temperatures, attention to window and door openings) to residential technical efficiency improvements (e.g. attic insulation, storm windows) is an important and largely unresolved issue. Although there is considerable discussion concerning the extent to which households take back some of the energy savings due to technical efficiency improvements in increased comfort, there is almost no empirical evidence on the subject.Detailed electricity billing data (from mid-1981 to mid-1983) were analyzed for 79 households that received financial assistance from the Bonneville Power Administration to retrofit their homes in mid-1982. The mean retrofit expenditure in these homes was $1900; the mean reduction in annual electricity use was 4700 kWh, of which 83% was due to reductions in space heating electricity use. Analysis of the electricity billing data suggests that these households increased their indoor temperature settings after retrofit by almost 1 °F on average. This temperature increase led to an estimated average loss of almost 600 kWh of electricity saving. In other words, roughly 10% of the energy saving due to retrofit was taken back in terms of increased comfort. These results concerning changes in indoor temperatures should be viewed cautiously because of limitations in the analytical method and the large variation across households.     

A comparison of commonly used hydrologic design methods for rainwater collectors

Rainwater collection as a possible water source in developing countries is introduced. The major parameters in calculating the size of the tank are defined. Six methods that have been used previously to relate demand, storage, reliability and the rainfall pattern are compared to the Ottawa Model over a wide range of demands.     

The impact of presentation graphics on students’ experience in the classroom

To investigate the benefits and perceived effectiveness of instructional technology, students enrolled in several courses were compared on student evaluations of instruction, grades and an attitudinal questionnaire. The instructors of the courses taught the same course across two successive semesters, using traditional “chalk-and-talk” methods the first semester, and PowerPoint the next; all other techniques (e.g., exams, lecture material) were held constant. Results suggest that organization and clarity, entertainment and interest, professor likeability, and good professor behaviors were enhanced with PowerPoint although final grades were not.     

Physical degradation of genomic DNA of soybean flours does not impair relative quantification of its transgenic content

In this paper, four different physical treatments (microwaves, heating by conduction, sonication and pressure autoclaving) were performed to degrade a pure DNA extract, and their influence on GMO quantification was studied. The aim was to check the hypothesis that processing of agrofood products results in a similar degradation rate for both the transgenic target and the specific target. Indeed we could observe that even if the used physical treatments could lead to a significant increase of C _t values for both transgenic and specific targets, the resulting ΔC _t remained stable. So, the main conclusion of the study is that the aforementioned hypothesis seems valid and thus a physical degradation of DNA will not affect the relative quantitation of the GMO content, provided that both the specific and transgenic targets have very similar size. A second important issue of the experiments performed was that DNA is a very robust molecule as it is extremely difficult to reach a mean size below 100 bp. The study also gives evidence of the importance of using small targets.     

The advancing-front mesh generation method revisited

This paper presents a mesh generation method of the advancing-front type which is designed in such a way that the well-known difficulties of the classical advancing-front method are not present. The retained solution consists of using the first steps of a Voronoï–Delaunay method to construct a background mesh which is then used to govern the algorithm. The two-dimensional case is considered in detail and possible extensions to adaption problems and three dimensions are indicated.     

The case of Gary: In search of post-hoc quixotic flexibility.

Responds to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1995-22250-001) commentary on T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. Issues related to limits and flexibility in treatment are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dislocations and flux pinning in YBa2Cu3O7

The dislocation structures of bulk textured and epitaxial thin film YBa₂Cu₃O₇ superconductors are examined. Correlations between increases in flux pinning and dislocation densities are noted. A model for flux pinning by individual dislocations is presented. This gives a treatment of strain induced effects and effects of normal state region interactions. It is shown that the values of pinning predicted are in line with experimental observations.     

Age effects on block design: Qualitative performance features and extended-time effects.

Qualitative performance features and extended-time effects on the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) were examined in 145 healthy Ss (aged 50–95 yrs). Raw scores were calculated at standard and extended time limits; error types and starting points were recorded for a subgroup of Ss. In Ss age 60 yrs and older, there was a consistent decline with age in overall scores at both time limits. Extra time allotments resulted in modest but significant increases in scores. Older and younger Ss benefited equally from the extra time, indicating that the age-related decline on this task cannot be accounted for by general age-related psychomotor slowing. Single- and multiblock rotation errors were relatively common, whereas stimulus boundedness and broken configurations were rare. Despite some potential limitations in generalizability, the results suggest that the incorporation of qualitative scoring procedures in the assessment of visuoconstructional skills may enhance understanding of normal and abnormal brain–behavior relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wide- and narrow-band bandpass coplanar filters in the W-frequency band

This paper deals with the design of passive coplanar devices in the W-frequency band. As long as coplanar transmission lines are correctly dimensioned, analytical models based on quasi-TEM approximation can be used. Such models are associated with a correct definition of the reference planes at the junctions and employed for junction discontinuities, T- and cross-junctions. In order to validate these assertions, simulated and experimental data on classical quarter-wavelength shunt-stub filters are first presented. Then the design of traditional coupled-line filters is examined. The problems in terms of insertion loss associated with these kinds of narrow-band applications are discussed here. Minimization of insertion losses requires increasing the width of the strips. Consequently, the design becomes complex and modeling using transmission-line models less accurate. Nevertheless, as an optimization procedure is needed to tune the filter theoretically, such a very fast design method is necessary. Simulated and experimental results in the range 500 MHz to 110 GHz are compared throughout the paper.