1,720,962 research outputs found

    Evaluation methodology for energy efficiency measures in industry and service sector

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    Directive 2012/27/EU, transposed in Italy with Decree of 4 July 2014 No102, a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency in European Union, is an innovative tool for improvement of energy efficiency and also necessary to undertake main objective of European Union (save 20% of primary energy consumption by 2020). Large enterprises and energy-intensive firms, except those having an energy management system (EnMS) according to ISO 50001 or compliant with EMAS Eco-Management and Audit Scheme or ISO 14001 fall under obligations and must be carry out energy audits every 4 years starting by December 2015 having "SMART" requirements: be Specific, Measurable, Accessible, Realistic, Time related. The analysis on a sample of Italian companies, mainly of small and medium enterprises (SME) in industry and the service sector, was conducted. Energy audit was carried out to identify Energy Company Profile, rationalize energy consumption to increase energy efficiency, assessing potential for energy savings and reducing of environmental impact. For any business context a series of energy efficiency measures has been proposed, selecting high profitability energy saving options by applying a priority criterion. Technical and economic indicators were reported on best practices focusing on tertiary sector and also industry. The study, starting from the feasibility assessments, aims to establish a possible correlation between energy performance indicators (EnPIs) and a limited number of parameters of the energy systems, in terms of production, operation and power consumption. Comparative assessment of energy-saving measures provides an useful method for assessing applicability of standard energy-saving measures in similar contexts and cost-effectiveness of solutions, as a function of a limited number of parameters

    A review of the properties of recycled and waste materials for energy refurbishment of existing buildings towards the requirements of NZEB

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    In Europe buildings account for 40% to 50% of total energy consumption and the largest greenhouse gases emitters and urgent measures and valid instruments are therefore required to improve energy saving, use of renewable sources in moving towards a sustainable materials management where waste becomes a "resource". In this context, there is an increase in research into development and manufacturing of new eco-friendly building envelope components from recycled and waste materials as high value-added good circular economy practice. Waste management may have significant effects in the sector of sustainable building the ultimate objective being the alternative construction materials replacing traditional materials: the development of innovative techniques aims to incorporate wastes into the production of building materials - for examples rubber, fly ash and sludge, etc. - to enhance thermal insulation properties. An effort in the sustainability in building design process is to develop researches aimed at enhancing thermal performance of components using materials capable of reusing a high waste content. The goal of this paper is to examine the technical feasibility of using inert waste materials from the combustion of municipal solid waste or solid recovered fuel and highlight changes in thermal characteristics (thermal conductivity, specific heat and density) by adding recycled and waste materials to the construction materials. The paper explores the potential of the use of thus obtained materials for the energy-refurbishment of existing buildings or with the challenge of meeting stringent energy consumption limits which are typical of a NZEB (net-zero energy building)

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    Energy and thermo-dynamical study of a small innovative compressed air energy storage system (micro-CAES)

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    There is a growing interest in the electrical energy storage system, due to the high penetration of the energy produced by renewable sources, the possibility of leveling the absorption peak of the electric network (peak shaving) and the advantage of separating the production phase from the exertion phase (time shift). Compressed air energy storage systems (CAES) are one of the most promising technologies of this field, because they are characterized by a high reliability, low environmental impact and a remarkable energy density. The main disadvantage of big systems is that they depend on geological formations which are necessary to the storage. The micro-CAES system, with a rigid storage vessel, guarantees a high portability of the system and a higher adaptability even with distributed or stand-alone energy productions. This article carries out a thermodynamical and energy analysis of the micro-CAES system, a result of the mathematical model created in a Matlab/Simulink® environment. New ideas will be discussed, as the one concerning the quasi-isothermal compression/expansion, through the exertion of a biphasic mixture, that will increase the total system efficiency and enable a combined production of electric, thermal and refrigeration energies. This is something promising for the development of an experimental device

    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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