1,721,111 research outputs found
Micromorphological evidence of warm-based glacier deposition from the Richer Hills Tillite (Victoria Land, Antarctica)
No full textThin sections of impregnated samples were used for micromorphological analysis of the ‘Ricker Hills Tillite’ in southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. The tillite is composed of massive matrix-supported diamicton with a porphyric coarse/fine related distribution, low sorting, low rounding and medium to high angularity. Glacial deposits are completely represented by lodgement till. Phyllosilicate reorientation patterns (plasmic fabrics) are visible in most samples, especially associated skelsepic and lattisepic patterns. Syndepositional pervasive till shearing (glacially induced) is evidenced by clast alignments, shear planes, rotational structures and pressure shadows. Boudinage, ductile shear zones, and rotational structures are also widespread in the deformed bedrock. Water-escape structures are clearly evident in the tillite and in the bedrock. Shear planes infilled by injection veins in lodgement till and at the till-bedrock interface testify to the presence of water during deposition. Secondary features like clay and silt coatings, sparite calcite, and oxidation products were found in all the examined outcrops. They formed under phreatic conditions due to saturated water circulation. A warm-based ice sheet was responsible for the deposition of the tillite. Past ice-flow directions were similar to present ones
How do banking fintech services affect SME debt?
No full textFintech technologies have become increasingly important in the banking industry, as they allow alternative effective means to interact with clients and collect hard information, i.e. codifiable data, to make better lending decisions. However, the advent of technology contrasts with the traditional bank-firm relationship based on human interactions and soft information. This study examines whether fintech favors or hampers the amount of debt finance issued by SMEs. Our findings reveal that the use of internet banking reduces SME debt, suggesting that credit decisions based on hard information reduce the likelihood of SMEs using bank debt. A key implication of our findings is that banks and entrepreneurs should reinforce their personal relationships
Towards 3-D petrography of glacigenic sediments: the potential of high-resolution X-ray computed tomography
No full textMicromorphological analysis of glacial sediments in Antarctica: An example from the Ricker Hills tillite.
No full textA number of sections of tillite and glacio-deformed bedrock have been collected at Ricker Hills (Victoria Land). The thin section have been analyzed and described with a micromorphological approach for characterizing the depositional environment
Comparing different approaches to define shading control threshold via a new automatic building simulation platform
Full text linkActive shading systems are essential to prevent heat gains in buildings and reduce
the risk of overheating phenomena. The control logic must avoid overheating while allowing
solar gains during heating hours. In general, smart control is based on a temperature and/or
solar irradiation threshold; however, innovative informatics tools now allow optimising these
thresholds based on specific building and climate characteristics. The paper presents a new
building energy dynamic simulation platform used here to define optimal shading control
thresholds for free-running and mechanically cooled spaces. Several shading control
approaches are applied and compared, considering fixed hourly schedules, controls based on
standard thresholds, and optimised thresholds with the tool. The analysis is performed
considering the sole summer. The approach shows how the developed platform and the
proposed methodology can optimise shading control thresholds, considering the specific
building characteristics and the local climate conditions, consequently reducing energy needs
or thermal discomfort conditions
Impact of different thermal zone data simplification for model calibration on monitored-simulated performance gaps
Full text linkThe paper analyses the impact of different simplification approaches for model
verification purposes considering a reference demo case of a municipality school located in
Torre Pellice (Italy), which has been monitored with room detail since April 2021. The target
variable of the calibration process is the indoor air temperature: firstly, results validity is
checked on an unoccupied free-running period; secondly, occupied standard behaviours and
adapted to real-use ones are adopted to test the simplification choices impact on indoor thermal
comfort indicators (e.g. the Adaptive Comfort Model). Several model simplification actions on
both building-level construction and zoning approaches are considered. Results of this demo
case demonstrate the usability of simplified models, which can be adopted instead of more
detailed and time-consuming full models for performance gap detections and other analyses
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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