262,208 research outputs found
Towards (nearly Zero Energy Buildings) nZEB educational buildings. Two scenarios to solve the energy performance, indoor environmental quality and capacity of the existing school buildings.
No full textSchool buildings are fundamental to transmit civic values and importance of a better environment to future generations. Besides the low consume of energy and exploit of renewable resources, an energy-efficient school also provides a good Indoor Environmental quality (IEQ), very important for the students and teachers. Quite often, the refurbishment of the existing school buildings is approached exclusively in an energy-efficiency perspective. Unlike new buildings, where energy-efficiency goals are much easier to meet through a wider range of solutions leading toward low consumes of energy (sometimes near to zero), in the case of existing ones the morphology and technology of the building represent important obstacles. Since 2010, in the European Union EU (regardless their destination), the refurbished buildings were required to produce their own energy demand from renewable sources. Defined as “nearly Zero Energy Buildings” (nZEB) and introduced for the first time in the EPBD 2010 recast, by producing their own energy demand without generating harmful emissions it was possible to reduce the dependence from the grid, known for transmitting power generated from non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Albania, a potential candidate to become a member of the EU, has transposed two important directives the EPBD 2010 recast and EED 2012 in its legislation but still not operative. Because of the missing acts regulating the technical aspects of building envelope elements, heating/cooling plants, exploit of renewable resources and in particular the certification of the energetic consume achieved through various labels, that (new or refurbished) buildings obtain. Refurbishment interventions on existing school buildings, performed by public administrations to reduce energy consumption and improve the indoor comfort are the clear example of this unclear energy efficiency framework. Most of the public school buildings of the nine-year cycle were built during the socialist system (known as Shkolla Tip ). Usually, they have been subject to refurbishment interventions without a clear goal, even though their building technology does not allow a wide range of interventions. Poor energetic-performance apart, capacity is also a serious problem. The low number of classrooms constrain the split of the didactic activity in two rounds (morning and afternoon), posing an important dilemma between the necessity to refurbish versus the possibility to demolish and build new ones. The nine-year cycle “Hillary Clinton” school, in the Kamza municipality, has been chosen as case because of the necessity to refurbish and increase the capacity. By proposing a set of technological solutions, there will be proved the convenience deriving from the refurbishment and the increase of capacity of the existing school buildings against their demolition and building of a new energy-efficient school with the desired capacity. Furthermore, considering our climatic context and the “sustainability” of our national grid system, the decarbonization of the school building stock in the country may occur sooner than the expected EU goal for 2050. For this reason, the refurbishment proposals will consider two possible scenarios: (i) the refurbishment by preserving the capacity; and (ii) the refurbishment with increase of capacity
Una finestra su Durrazo. Obiettivo: Integrare. Intervista a Besnik Aliaj
No full textL'intervista ad uno dei più noti urbanisti albanesi sul tema dell' Informalità e delle azioni da intraprendere nel futuro allo scopo di intergrare i quartieri informali con il tessuto urbano delle città
State diagrams of some organic acid-water systems of interest in food
No full textOrganic acids are present in low amounts in most foods, both as ingredients and as natural components and in considerable amounts in acid foods. The state diagrams of citric acid-, tartaric acid-, malic acid-and lactic acid-water systems are presented here. The state diagrams can be useful in controlling and predicting the physical changes of amorphous and glassy systems in non equilibrium state during processing and storage
Water activity and viscosity in model food systems. Relations with glass transition temperatures
No full textBoth thermodynamic and kinetic parameters are important in food processing and stability.
Thermodynamic parameters are represented by water activity and generally applied to high and
medium moisture content materials, where molecules can freely diffuse, without restrictions. In
contrast, kinetic properties mainly apply to intermediate and low moisture content foods, wherc
diffusional mobility of reactants is more or less restricted and where water acts as a plasticizer of
amorphous compounds. Kinetic properties can be represented by viscosity and related to the
glass transition temperature (To) by the Williams Landel Ferry equation. Thus, in a food system
passing from high to intermediate and low moisture content and/or from high to low temperature,
the prevailing control mechanism will gradually change from thermodynamic to kinetic.
The relationship between the water activity, temperature and viscosity is presented for some
model solutions
Global financial crisis and its impact on the financial system of Kosovo
No full textThe Kosovo’s Financial Sector is one of the newest financial sectors in Eastern Europe whose developments began in early 2000. Kosovo's banking sector consists of 8 privately owned commercial banks, the insurance companies which make up 5% of total financial sector assets by 10 insurance companies with over 70% foreign equity ownership. Pension funds also participate by about 1.5% of the total financial sector assets. In the long history of global financial crisis, and such have been over 120, the current crisis is regarded as among the most profound (similar to that of year 1929) and comprehensive on the speed and breadth of development. The sources of the crisis lie in the three pillars of the functioning of banking institutions: inadequate management of credit risk and liberalization of excessive lending policies; inadequate capitalization of the banking institutions; and inadequate management of their liquidity. Kosovo is part of Europe and cannot act as a closed oasis. The concept of a new model of financial sector in Kosovo is thought to create additional mechanisms that will enable advancements in the development of Kosovo’s financial sector with special focus in the field of investment and that mean financial market development namely the securities market. Legal infrastructure on debt market in Kosovo will create a legal possibility that the central and municipal government have the opportunity to borrow in order to implement their development policies. It is unimaginable implementation of the project without information technology support. This support has to do with that that information technology offers its capacities in supporting of all the activities that include the operation of the securities market and the creation of its electronic data base.Financial market, ffinancial crisis, financial system, financial institutions, financial intermediation
Genotyping of virulence factors in avian pathogenic E. coli by multiplex PCR.
No full textColibacillosis caused by pathogenic E. coli strains (Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli) is one of the main causes of economic losses in poultry breeding industry worldwide. This acute infection of birds may be clinically localized or systemic, several of the lesions in visceral organs are observed. Virulence factors in the E. coli genome, described in various studies, have not clarified prevalence of APEC strains, and their importance in the infection pathogenesis is still unknown. Conducted surveys indicate that the presence of virulence genes in E. coli isolates is the starting point of differentiation and characterization of pathogenic E. coli to those intestinal and opportunistic. A total of 158 E. coli strains were examined for the presence of eight virulence genes: iss, tsh, papC, vat, cvaA/B, iucD, astA, irp2, by means of molecular biology technique PCR-multiplex (Ewers et al. 2004). This study identified significant differences of virulence factors among strains isolated from lesions, compared to those from apparently healthy subjects. iss, responsible for increased serum survival in the E. coli bacteria, was the virulence factor with the highest percentage of detection (42.40%). Virulence genes frequency is considered to be an important indicator of the virulence of E. coli strains. Thus the lack of virulence factors in APEC strains resulted in 27.18%, while in AFEC strains resulted in 61.81%. These data obtained from genetic characterization of avian E. coli strains constitute the first report in Albania for colibacillosis infection outbreak in poultry flocks. The presence, appearance and distribution of virulence genes in poultry flocks provide basic information for the control and eradication of the colibacillosis infection
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
MENAXHIMI I FONDEVE PENSIONALE: RAST STUDIMI FONDI I KURSIMEVE PENSIONALE TË KOSOVËS -TRUSTI
No full textSistemi pensional në Kosovë përgjatë tri dekadave të fundit ka pësuar ndryshime të njëpasnjëshme. Shkas për këto ndryshime pa dyshim ishin zhvillimet ekonomike dhe ato politike. Zhvillimet politike ishin më të rëndësishmet, kjo për faktin se pas luftës së fundit Kosova nuk kishte një fond të pensioneve. Aktualisht sistemi pensional në Kosovë është i përbërë nga tri shtylla: 1. Shtylla e I – paraqet pensionin bazë të cilin e gëzon cdo qytetarë i Kosovës, kur arrin moshën 65 vjecare. 2. Shtylla e II – është Fondi i Kursimeve Pensionale të Kosovës, i cili financohet me kontribut të definuar. 3. Shtylla e III – janë fonde vullnetare. Bazuar në faktin e lartpërmendur ky hulumtim është përqëndruar te institucionet përgjegjëse për menaxhimin e fondeve pensionale të cilët kanë rol esencial në mbarëvajtjen sa më efikase të procesit të pensionimit, sigurimin e financimit social në përputhshmëri me dispozitat ligjore të Kosovës, si dhe do të identifikohen faktorët të cilët ndihmojnë apo pengojnë në menaxhimin e Sistemit Pensional në Kosovë.
Në këtë hulumtim do të diskutojmë për tri shtyllat e sistemit pensional, ndërsa një analizë më e detajuar do të bëhet për shtyllën e II, pra për Fondin e Kursimeve Pensionale të Kosovës. FKPK është institucion i themeluar në dhjetor të vitit 2001 dhe ka filluar aktivitetin në gusht të vitit 2002 për të administruar dhe menaxhuar kontributet e obligueshme pensionale (dhe vullnetare) të të punësuarve në Kosovë. Përgjatë këtij hulumtimi do të analizohen mjetet nën menaxhim, menaxhimi i aseteve si dhe më e rëndësishmja do të diskutohen politikat investuese si dhe strategjitë e investimeve, që ky Fond ndjek në mënyrë që të rrit fleksibilitetin e fondit për të përmirësuar performancën në kohë krizash
Protecting Animals 36: Author Witi Ihimaera
No full textIn this very special episode of Knowing Animals I am joined by beloved New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera. Witi has written many books featuring nonhuman animals. He offers us a non-colonial lens through which to think about the human/nonhuman relationship
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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