1,721,033 research outputs found
Influence of human behavior on cool roof effect for summer cooling
No full textCool roofs represent an acknowledged solution for cooling energy saving. However, the efficacy of such physical intervention can be affected by occupants' attitudes. Human behavior, in fact, is often neglected or underestimated at the design stage, e.g. while assessing the effect of physical retrofits. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is the assessment of cool roof effect with varying those occupants' attitudes having some effect on energy need for cooling and indoor Thermal Deviation Index (TDI). The analysis has been performed through calibrated dynamic simulation of a continuously monitored historic building. Innovative cool roof clay tiles, suitable for application in historic buildings, have been selected as physical retrofit. Main findings show that occupants' role can dominate the thermal-energy effect of the selected physical retrofit. For instance, cool roof tiles contribute to save 50% of primary energy for attic cooling in the hottest month, from 782kWh to 398kWh. If occupants' adaptation availability in adjusting temperature setups is taken into account in combination of the cool roof effect, the energy need for cooling becomes less than 100kWh. Also, the same cool tile is able to reduce the TDI from 0.87 to 0.54. If occupants are able to implement effective natural ventilation programs, TDI decreases to 0.29. These results show the necessity to consider neither only the effect of physical retrofits, nor only the effect of human attitudes, but the combination of both of them, in order to perform reliable energy need estimation, in both ante and post-occupancy assessment
Cultural heritage microclimate change: Human-centric approach to experimentally investigate intra-urban overheating and numerically assess foreseen future scenarios impact
No full textMicroclimate change related events affect cities total environment and therefore citizens’ wellbeing. In a framework of urban resilience challenge, it is important to guarantee thermally comfortable conditions to dwellers in outdoors but also to preserve cultural heritage masterpieces for tourism and local socio-cultural identity. This work couples an innovative field monitoring at multiple scales and a validated numerical modelling effort to identify indoor and outdoor critical conditions at the present time and in the future, according to IPCC climate change forecast scenarios. The authors focused the attention on the overheating risk of Gubbio historical city center, in central Italy. Experimental data analysis highlights the microclimate granularity of the case study with detected temperature discrepancies up to 2.5 °C observed at pedestrian height during the hottest hour, i.e. 2p.m. Collected data are then used to validate the numerical models of (i) the most significant building of the city and (ii) its surroundings to investigate indoor/outdoor thermal comfort stress due to climate change and local overheating. The combined analysis shows that indoor operative temperature reaches 32 °C on average in 80 years, compared to the current 29 °C value. In the outdoors, apparent temperature increases by about 10 °C on 2100, being responsible for a serious threat compromising socio-cultural life, human health and outdoor and recreational activities
Human-centric green building design: the energy saving potential of occupants’ behaviour enhancement in the office environment
No full textBuildings energy efficiency is highly dependent on occupants’ energy and environmental lifestyle. In this view, this work aims at identifying the potential benefits of human-based energy retrofit strategies, namely human behaviour triggering actions and associated energy awareness, through large-scale surveys and calibrated building dynamic simulation. In detail, a questionnaire is submitted to office occupants to understand workers’ energy behaviours, indoor environmental perception, and identify tailored triggering actions. Therefore, different occupant behaviour scenarios involving energy wasteful and efficient human-building interactions are modelled when implemented in a case study office building in Italy. Findings show that the elimination of energy wasteful behaviours may involve building energy need reduction up to 17%. Furthermore, triggers aimed at driving energy efficient human control of HVAC setting and natural ventilation provide further annual performance improvement. Therefore, motivating occupants to change behaviour is a challenge to reduce energy consumption while improving indoor environmental conditions and cost-energy benefits
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
Evaluating social awareness of energy communities through semantic network analysis of online news
No full textAppropriate 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
A perspective on managing cities and citizens' well-being through smart sensing data
No full textUrban development and growth have a significant impact on the environment, contributing to ongoing climate change and affecting the resilience of urban communities. However, cities also have the potential to become innovation centers and drive the urgent green transition. Smart cities, in particular, rely on digital services to enhance citizens' quality of life while minimizing their environmental footprint. Therefore, public authorities and policymakers must leverage technological innovations and smart sensing to gather and process relevant data in real-time, supporting citizens' well-being through dedicated services. This work aims to provide a perspective toward healthier and more resilient smart cities by integrating personal, contextual, and environmental data to enhance Early Warning Systems and resiliency planning. Existing studies on the usage of smart sensing technologies in healthcare and environmental assessment services are reviewed to present existing opportunities in both fields. A critical analysis of the background is provided, highlighting the potentials and challenges of the proposed smart city management protocol, leveraging data directly collected by citizens - viewed in this sense as data prosumers
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