Thermal energy and economic analysis of a PCM-enhanced household envelope considering different climate zones in Morocco

This study investigates the thermal energy potentials and economic feasibility of an air-conditioned family household-integrated phase change material (PCM) considering different climate zones in Morocco. A simulation-based optimisation was carried out in order to define the optimal design of a PCM-enhanced household envelope for thermal energy effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of predefined candidate solutions. The optimisation methodology is based on coupling Energyplus^® as a dynamic simulation tool and GenOpt^® as an optimisation tool. Considering the obtained optimum design strategies, a thermal energy and economic analysis are carried out to investigate PCMs’ integration feasibility in the Moroccan constructions. The results show that the PCM-integrated household envelope allows minimising the cooling/heating thermal energy demand vs. a reference household without PCM. While for the cost-effectiveness optimisation, it has been deduced that the economic feasibility is stilling insufficient under the actual PCM market conditions. The optimal design parameters results are also analysed.     

Genetic parameters for cheese-making properties and milk composition predicted from mid-infrared spectra in a large data set of Montbéliarde cows

Cheese-making properties of pressed cooked cheeses (PCC) and soft cheeses (SC) were predicted from mid-infrared (MIR) spectra. The traits that were best predicted by MIR spectra (as determined by comparison with reference measurements) were 3 measures of laboratory cheese yield, 5 coagulation traits, and 1 acidification trait for PCC (initial pH; pH_0PPC). Coefficients of determination of these traits ranged between 0.54 and 0.89. These 9 traits as well as milk composition traits (fatty acid, protein, mineral, lactose, and citrate content) were then predicted from 1,100,238 MIR spectra from 126,873 primiparous Montbéliarde cows. Using this data set, we estimated the corresponding genetic parameters of these traits by REML procedures. A univariate or bivariate repeatability animal model was used that included the fixed effects of herd × test day × spectrometer, stage of lactation, and year × month of calving as well as the random additive genetic, permanent environmental, and residual effects. Heritability estimates varied between 0.37 and 0.48 for the 9 cheese-making property traits analyzed. Coagulation traits were the ones with the highest heritability (0.42 to 0.48), whereas cheese yields and pH_{0 PPC} had the lowest heritability (0.37 to 0.39). Strong favorable genetic correlations, with absolute values between 0.64 and 0.97, were found between different measures of cheese yield, between coagulation traits, between cheese yields and coagulation traits, and between coagulation traits measured for PCC and SC. In contrast, the genetic correlations between milk pH_{0 PPC} and CY or coagulation traits were weak (?0.08 to 0.09). The genetic relationships between cheese-making property traits and milk composition were moderate to high. In particular, high levels of proteins, fatty acids, Ca, P, and Mg in milk were associated with better cheese yields and improved coagulation. Proteins in milk were strongly genetically correlated with coagulation traits and, to a lesser extent, with cheese yields, whereas fatty acids in milk were more genetically correlated with cheese yields than with coagulation traits. This study, carried out on a large scale in Montbéliarde cows, shows that MIR predictions of cheese yields and milk coagulation properties are sufficiently accurate to be used for genetic analyses. Cheese-making traits, as predicted from MIR spectra, are moderately heritable and could be integrated into breeding objectives without additional phenotyping cost, thus creating an opportunity for efficient improvement via selection.     

Effect of pretreatments and drying methods on physico‐chemical,sensory characteristics and nutritional value of oyster mushroom

This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of pretreatments and drying methods on the chemical, physico‐chemical, sensory characteristics and nutritional value of oyster mushroom. Chemical analysis of oyster mushroom (OM) showed that the values content were increased by many times when calculated on dry weight basis. Nine treatments of dried mushroom powders (DMP) were prepared using three drying methods (hot air drying, vacuum drying, and sun drying). Also, three pretreatments of each method of drying were used (untreated, blanching by steaming without or with steeped in 0.5% citric acid solution for 30 min).The results and statistical analysis revealed that, sun dried oyster mushroom samples (without pretreatments) were found to be the best. The DMP samples resulting of the sun drying had a highest physico‐chemical properties, sensory evaluation scores, and contents of the mineral elements and amino acids as compared to other pretreatments and drying methods.

Practical applications

Fresh mushrooms have high water content, high enzymatic activity and hence are highly perishable. Thus, in this study nine treatments of dried mushroom powders (DMP) were prepared using three drying methods (hot air drying, vacuum drying and sun drying).Also, three pretreatments of each method of drying were used (untreated, blanching by steaming without or with steeped in citric acid).The DMP samples (untreated) resulting of the sun drying were better than other pretreatments and drying methods regarding quality attributes.     

Icelandic boom and bust: immigration and the housing market

The housing market boom in Iceland in 2004–2007 was driven by international and domestic developments. A simple demand and supply model is fitted to data through the recent boom–bust period. The price equation (demand) is improved by including net immigration as an explanatory variable showing that demographic factors, in addition to mortgage market restructuring, help in explaining swings in the housing market. Evidence of a house price bubble is no longer detected when accounting for the effects of immigration with 1 per cent net immigration yielding a 4–6 per cent rise in house prices. Accuracy in forecasting house price developments is improved by accounting for housing investment behaviour in a separate (supply) equation. The sharp fall in housing investment in 2009 cannot, however, be modelled without the introduction of a dummy variable, accounting for the sudden stop in financing as the Icelandic banking sector failed in late 2008.     

A Condition‐Based Deterioration Model for the Stochastic Dependency of Corrosion Rate and Crack Propagation in Corroded Concrete Structures

Physics‐based models are intensively studied in mechanical and civil engineering but their constant increase in complexity makes them harder to use in a maintenance context, especially when degradation model can/should be updated from new inspection data. On the other hand, Markovian cumulative damage approaches such as Gamma processes seem promising; however, they suffer from lack of acceptability by the civil engineering community due to poor physics considerations. In this article, we want to promote an approach for modeling the degradation of structures and infrastructures for maintenance purposes which can be seen as an intermediate approach between physical models and probabilistic models. A new statistical, data‐driven state‐dependent model is proposed. The construction of the degradation model will be discussed within an application to the cracking of concrete due to chloride‐induced corrosion. Numerical experiments will later be conducted to identify preliminary properties of the model in terms of statistical inferences. An estimation algorithm is proposed to estimate the parameters of the model in cases where databases suffer from irregularities.     

On the evaluation of wind loads for wind turbines' foundation design: Experimental and numerical investigations

In the past two decades, wind farms have been enjoying renewed interest as means for clean and renewable energy production. Larger and taller wind turbines are used for harvesting wind energy. In this paper, a boundary‐layer wind tunnel experiment was carried out on a model of the 5‐MW National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) wind turbine, to evaluate overall wind‐induced base loadings in a parked condition. While mean and background base loadings were measured experimentally, a posttest dynamic analysis framework is developed to assess inertial loads analytically. The analytical analysis is carried out under both rigid and flexible tower‐foundation assumptions. Whenever applicable, the wind tunnel measurements are compared with NREL results, which were obtained by using the Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence (FAST) software. The comparison shows a good agreement between the proposed approach and the available FAST results. In addition, the study indicates that the flexibility of the foundation may result in a reduced overall wind loads, due to base isolation effects. However, the assumption of a rigid foundation results in a slightly conservative base loads. This said, depending on the available foundation system, the methodology followed in the current paper remains in force and the base stiffness can be updated to permit the estimation of actual foundation loadings.