1,720,969 research outputs found
Effect of natural ventilation and manual airing on indoor air quality in naturally ventilated Italian classrooms
No full textThe present work aimed to evaluate the effect of the ventilation on indoor air quality in Italian classrooms. To this end, schools located in the Central Italy were considered in the survey. The results of two experimental analyses are presented: a) data on classrooms' permeability and resultant air exchange rate, b) trends of indoor air quality parameters during heating and non-heating seasons to assess the possible effect of the manual airing technique. Pressurization tests were performed in 16 classrooms to evaluate their air infiltration due to envelope's leakages. The indoor air quality was investigated in 6 classrooms through CO2, particle number concentration and radon concentration measurements which were also related to the manual airing performed by window opening. Results of the pressurization tests revealed that, even in classrooms characterized by a poor maintenance state, the permeability of the envelopes was too low to guarantee acceptable air exchange rates. The analysis of the classrooms' air quality showed that during the fall and winter seasons the airing was ineffective, while it positively affected the indoor air quality during the spring season when strong reductions in CO2 and radon concentrations were recorded. The effect of the manual airing on the infiltration of outdoor generated pollutants was also assessed. As an example, a greater airing effect resulted in a higher penetration of sub-micrometric particles from outdoor: in fact, particle penetration factors of 0.83 and 1 were measured in fall/winter and spring seasons, respectively
Air permeability of naturally ventilated Italian classrooms
Full text linkThe study is focused on the evaluation of air permeability and ventilation rate in Italian classrooms. Measurements were performed in 16 naturally ventilated classrooms located in Cassino, Central Italy. Classrooms' airtightness was evaluated through the fan pressurization method. Air exchange rates where both estimated from the blower door results and measured using a CO2 decay test method. The effect of the periodic manual airing of the classrooms (through window and door opening) was also investigated performing CO2 and particle number concentration measurements during the school time
Development of a geographical information system (GIS) for the integration of solar energy in the energy planning of a wide area
Full text linkEnergy planning has become one of the most powerful tools for urban planning even if several constraints, (i.e., aesthetic, archaeological, landscape) and technological (low diffusion of Renewable Energy Sources, RES) reduce its spreading. An efficient and sustainable urban planning process should be based on detailed energy issues, such as: (i) the effective energetic characteristics and needs of the area like urban density and energy consumption, (ii) the integration of different RES and (iii) the diffusion of high efficiency technologies for energy production like cogeneration and district heating. The above-mentioned energetic issues and constraints must be constantly updated, in order to evaluate the consequences on environment and landscape due to new distributed generation technologies. Moreover, energy strategies and policies must be adapted to the actual evolution of the area. In this paper the authors present a Geographical Information Database System (GIS DB) based on: (i) the availability of land use (Land Capability Classification, LCC) to evaluate the productive potential; (ii) the estimation of residential energy consumptions (e.g., electricity), (iii) the integration of RES. The GIS DB model has been experimented in a wide area of Central Italy, considering exclusively the solar energy source for energy generation
The effect of natural ventilation strategy on indoor air quality in schools
No full textIn order to reduce children's exposure to pollutants in classrooms a proper ventilation strategy need to be adopted. Such strategy is even more important in naturally ventilated schools where the air exchange rate is only based on the manual airing of classrooms. The present work aimed to evaluate the effect of the manual airing strategy on indoor air quality in Italian classrooms. For this aim, schools located in the Central Italy were investigated. Indoor air quality was studied in terms of CO2, particle number and PM concentrations and compared to corresponding outdoor levels. In particular two experimental analyses were performed: i) a comparison between heating and non heating season in different schools; ii) an evaluation of the effect of scheduled airing periods on the dilution of indoor-generated pollutants and the penetration of outdoor-generated ones. In particular, different airing procedures, i.e. different window opening periods (5 to 20 min per hour) were imposed and controlled through contacts installed on classroom windows and doors. Results revealed that the airing strategy differently affect the several pollutants detected in indoors depending on their size, origin and dynamics. Longer airing periods may result in reduced indoor CO2concentrations and, similarly, other gaseous indoor-generated pollutants. Simultaneously, higher ultrafine particle (and other vehicular-related pollutants) levels in indoors were measured due to infiltration from outdoors. Finally, a negligible effect of the manual airing on PM levels in classroom was detected. Therefore, a simultaneous reduction in concentration levels for all the pollutant metrics in classrooms cannot be obtained just relying upon air permeability of the building envelope and manual airing of the classrooms
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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
