4,130 research outputs found
Vacuum Insulation Panels Applied in Building Constructions
No full textDue to sustainability and due to international treaties, it is desired and required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. One contributor to these emissions is the burning of fossil fuels for generating power and electricity to be used in and for buildings. Buildings and building-related processes are responsible for about 40% of the primary energy consumption in the European Union. More than half of this energy is applied for heating systems in dwellings and commercial buildings. The European Union therefore has laid down new energy performance requirements for buildings in the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. Moreover, a reduction of energy losses of buildings during their occupational phase is important for facilitating the implementation of sustainable energy sources in the built environment. Increasing the insulation value of the envelope of buildings may contribute to this reduction of primary energy use. Two strategies can be followed. The first strategy is to increase the thickness of the thermal insulation layer. Until recently, this strategy has primarily been adopted. If, however, German or Swiss Passivhaus standard is applied, the thickness of this insulation layer would increase to beyond 30 cm, resulting in very thick building enclosures. The second, more innovative, strategy for reducing energy losses through the building skin would be the application of more effective thermal insulators. One such more effective thermal insulator is a vacuum insulation panel, abbreviated as VIP. A VIP consists of an open-celled core material which is evacuated and then tightly sealed into a barrier envelope to maintain this vacuum. The vacuum inside the pores of the core material reduces the thermal conductivity of the product significantly, as a result of which the thickness of the insulation layer can be reduced to obtain a certain performance. This reduction of thickness is among the most promising features for large-scale application of VIPs in the building industry. However, integration of VIPs into buildings must be performed very meticulously for several reasons; first, due to its nature a VIP cannot be processed on site and needs careful planning in advance; second, it is very sensitive to mechanical damage thus requiring careful handling; third, thermal bridges along the panel’s edges reduce its performance; fourth, the composite system is highly subjected to aging. This dissertation therefore looks into many of these aspects, presents several calculation tools and shows how VIPs can be applied in façade panels, EPS insulation boards and as under-floor insulation. With the wide-spread proliferation of VIPs in buildings a more sustainable and healthy environment can then be achieved.Building TechnologyArchitectur
Music in Heritage - The Acoustic Agora
No full textResearch about acoustics in heritage. In many of the redeveloped buildings, the acoustic quality is very poor. The reverberant times are very high due to the little amount of absorbing surfaces and some frequencies gain a higher G-strength then other frequencies. This is for a part due to the dimensions of the spaces. For example; churches with concave surfaces and very high ceilings. The other part is caused by the materialisation of the buildings. The materials are mainly chosen because of their constructive or aesthetic properties. The masonry and concrete hardly absorb any frequencies, which causes a high reverberation times, and wooden floors basically absorb a little bit of the low tones (due to the resonance frequency). However, some buildings could be very suitable for theatres and arts centres because of their central location in cities, but due to the poor acoustic quality this is a big design challenge. In the design question, two important demands conflict with each other; Both the cultural value of the existing building and the acoustic quality demands large surfaces. Cultural value needs to be seen by the users, but sound needs to be absorbed and reflected in a complex way. How can heritage be a place for music?Architectural EngineeringArchitectural Engineering and TechnologyArchitecture and The Built Environmen
Tearing down walls: opening the border between hospital and ambulatory care for quality improvement in Germany.
No full textItem does not contain fulltextThe hospital benchmarking system in Germany was originally introduced to detect unintended consequences of reimbursement based on diagnosis-related groups. The new nationwide SQG programme aims to provide information on quality and outcomes of health care provided in hospital, ambulatory specialist and primary care settings, including the healthcare delivery across different sectors. In 2010 the topics for indicator development were cataract surgery, cervical conization, colectoral cancer and percutaneous coronary interventions or coronary angiography. A systematic stepwise modified RAND/UCLA procedure is applied to develop quality indicators in each of these domains. A general framework for data collection is implemented. Benchmarking results are fed back to providers on a regular basis.01 april 201
Book Review: Reginald M.J. Oduor’s Introduction to Ethics
No full textTITLE OF BOOK: Introduction to Ethics
AUTHOR: Reginald M.J. Oduor
Nairobi: Sophia Publications Ltd., 2009, 116 pages
COVER: Paperback
ISBN: 9966-7457-0-X
This book is a product of more than a decade of Oduor’s experience in teaching ethics (moral philosophy) at the University of Nairobi. In the course of this introduction, the reader gets to see the techniques of philosophic reflection in action, as they are employed to scrutinise various pertinent moral questions
Author Co-Citation Analysis (ACA): a powerful tool for representing implicit knowledge of scholar knowledge workers
No full textIn the last decade, knowledge has emerged as one of the most important and valuable organizational assets. Gradually this importance caused to emergence of new discipline entitled ―knowledge management‖. However one of the major challenges of knowledge management is conversion implicit or tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Thus Making knowledge visible so that it can be better accessed, discussed, valued or generally managed is a long-standing objective in knowledge management. Accordingly in this paper author co- citation analysis (ACA) will be proposed as an efficient technique of knowledge visualization in academia (Scholar knowledge workers)
Gift inscription in Minions of the Moon: a little book of song and story
No full textThis edition includes a gift inscription possibly penned by the author, Madison Julius Cawein, "Frank on Valentines Day, 1914. M.J." Madison Julius Cawein (1865-1914).Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914
Do leaders need EI? A study of the relationship between EI and leadership of change
No full textOver the last few years there has been a significant and sustained growth in interest in the area of leadership. This paper reviews the development in thinking and research in relation to leadership. The limitations of progress in our understanding of the phenomenon are discussed. Building from this review, the potential for a view of leadership relating to its role in the context of change and its relationship to Emotional Intelligence is
explored. The relationship between the Competencies associated with change leadership and Emotional Intelligence is examined by means of a quantitative study involving a
sample of 70 managers. Change Leadership Competencies are operationalised using an instrument reported by Higgs and Rowland (2000). Emotional Intelligence is operationalised using the EIQ developed by Dulewicz and Higgs (1999). The study
reported in this paper demonstrates strong correlations between six of the seven elements of Emotional Intelligence and all five
factors in the Change Leadership Competency (CLC) model.
In addition, the overall EI score correlates significantly with the overall CLC score. The author concludes that Emotional Intelligence potentially plays a significant part in
the effectiveness of leadership in a change context and identifies areas for further research
Safety and risk management interventions in hospitals: a systematic review of the literature.
No full textContains fulltext :
81617.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)The aim of this systematic review was (a) to synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of detection, mitigation, and actions to reduce risks in hospitals and (b) to identify and describe components of interventions responsible for effectiveness. Thirteen literature databases were explored using a structured search and data extraction strategy. All included studies dealing with incident reporting described positive effects. Evidence regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of safety analysis is scarce. No studies on mitigation were included. The collected evidence on risk reduction concerns a variety of interventions to reduce medication errors, fall incidents, diagnostic errors, and adverse events in general. Most studies reported positive effects; however, interventions were often multifaceted, and it was difficult to disentangle their impact. This made it difficult to draw generic lessons from this body of research. More rigorous evaluations are needed, in particular, of continuous learning and safety analysis techniques
Optical Flow Based State Estimation for an Indoor Micro Aerial Vehicle
No full textThis work addresses the problem of indoor state estimation for autonomous flying vehicles with an optic flow approach. The paper discusses a sensor configuration using six optic flow sensors of the computer mouse type augmented by a three-axis accelerometer to estimate velocity, rotation, attitude and viewing distances. It is shown that the problem is locally observable for a moving vehicle. A Kalman filter is used to extract these states from the sensor data. The resulting approach is tested in a simulation environment evaluating the performance of three Kalman filter algorithms under various noise conditions. Finally, a prototype of the sensor hardware has been built and tested in a laboratory setup. Paper published: Verveld, M.J., Chu, Q.P., De Wagter, C. and Mulder, J.A. “Optic Flow Based State Estimation for an Indoor Micro Air Vehicle” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, August 2010, Toronto, Canada AIAA 2010-8209, DOI: 10.2514/6.2010-8209Aerospace EngineeringControl & Simulatio
Partnering for climate change adaptations by Dutch housing associations
No full textIt is globally recognised that action needs to be taken to address the negative effects of climate change. These effects, such as more extreme rainfall, may threaten the quality of life of those living in urban environments. Increasing the implementation of climate change adaptation measures is addressed in this thesis by engaging the construction sector while focusing on the dwellings of Dutch housing associations. This cooperation could work as a catalyst for information-sharing and increased efficiency in the construction process. The effect could be further improved by bringing in external players, such as local governments and water boards. To implement measures more easily, framing is very important. This book not only offers valuable information for those involved with the Dutch housing stock and climate change impacts, but will also help parties outside The Netherlands to cope with climate change adaptation in built-up areas.OTBArchitecture and The Built Environmen
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