bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intraoperative Assessment of Gap Balancing in Total Knee Arthroplasty Using Navigation with Joint Stability Graphs
Authors: Song Sang Jun , Lee Hyun Woo , Park Cheol Hee
Published: November 2021

The purpose of this study was to assess continuous gaps in the replaced knee throughout the full range of motion (ROM) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) using a joint stability graph, and to analyze the gap laxity in the mid-flexion range. Ninety-three TKAs were performed using imageless navigation with a joint stability graph. While positioning guides for each respective cut, the surgeon can safely preview the resection's impact for the resulting joint gaps and control the soft tissue balance at the knee flexion of 0° (extension) and 90° (flexion). The gaps between the femoral component and insert were evaluated throughout the full ROM using the joint stability graph. The mechanical axis (MA) and change of joint line height were radiographically evaluated. Posthoc power analyses using a significant α value of 0.05 were performed on the proportion of the mid-flexion instability as a primary outcome to determine whether the sample had sufficient power. The power was determined to be sufficient (100%). The flexion–extension gap differences in each medial and lateral compartment and the mediolateral gap differences in flexion and extension were all ≤3 mm. None of the knees had mid-flexion instability, which is defined by a peak mid-flexion gap that is 3 mm greater than the smaller value of flexion or extension gap. The average MA was well corrected from varus 11.4° to varus 1.0° postoperatively. The proportion of postoperative well-aligned knees (MA ≤ 3°) was 87.1%. The joint line height was well preserved (14.7 vs. 14.8 mm, p = 0.751). The joint stability graph in TKA using the navigation can effectively evaluate the continuous gap throughout the ROM, including the mid-flexion range. Mid-flexion instability was uncommon in primary TKAs with appropriate alignment and proper preservation of the joint line. The Level of evidence for the study is IV.
Cesarean Birth Morbidity among Women with SARS-CoV-2
Authors: McLaren Rodney , London Viktoriya , Narayanamoorthy Sujatha , Atallah Fouad , Silver Michael , Minkoff Howard
Published: November 2021

Objective The objective of this study was to compare maternal outcomes of women with and without severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections who underwent cesarean births.

Study Design This was a matched cohort study of pregnant women who had a cesarean birth between March 15, 2020, and May 20, 2020. Cases included women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. For every case, two patients who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 were matched by maternal age, gestational age, body mass index, primary or repeat cesarean birth, and whether the procedure was scheduled or unscheduled. We compared rates of adverse postcesarean complications (intraoperative bladder or bowel injury, estimated blood loss more than or equal to 1,000 mL, hemoglobin drop more than 3 g/dL, hematocrit drop more than 10%, need for blood transfusion, need for hysterectomy, maternal intensive care unit admission, postoperative fever, and development of surgical site infection), with the primary outcome being a composite of those outcomes. We also assessed duration of postoperative stay. Fisher's exact tests were performed to compare the primary outcome between both groups.

Results Between March and May 2020, 202 women who subsequently underwent cesarean birth were tested for SARS-CoV-2. Of those 202, 43 (21.3%) patients were positive. They were matched to 86 patients who tested negative. There was no significant difference in the rate of composite adverse surgical outcomes between the groups (SARS-CoV-2 infected 27.9%, SARS-CoV-2 uninfected 25.6%; p = 0.833). There was a higher rate of postoperative fevers (20.9 vs. 5.8%; p = 0.015), but that did not result in a longer length of stay (p = 0.302).

Conclusion Pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 who underwent a cesarean birth did not have an increased risk of adverse surgical outcomes, other than fever, compared with pregnant women without SARS-CoV-2.

Key Points
How analysis of mobile app reviews problematises linguistic approaches to internet troll detection
Authors: Monakhov Sergei
Published: November 2021

State-sponsored internet trolls repeat themselves in a unique way. They have a small number of messages to convey but they have to do it multiple times. Understandably, they are afraid of being repetitive because that will inevitably lead to their identification as trolls. Hence, their only possible strategy is to keep diluting their target message with ever-changing filler words. That is exactly what makes them so susceptible to automatic detection. One serious challenge to this promising approach is posed by the fact that the same troll-like effect may arise as a result of collaborative repatterning that is not indicative of any malevolent practices in online communication. The current study addresses this issue by analysing more than 180,000 app reviews written in English and Russian and verifying the obtained results in the experimental setting where participants were asked to describe the same picture in two experimental conditions. The main finding of the study is that both observational and experimental samples became less troll-like as the time distance between their elements increased. Their ‘troll coefficient’ calculated as the ratio of the proportion of repeated content words among all content words to the proportion of repeated content word pairs among all content word pairs was found to be a function of time distance between separate individual contributions. These findings definitely render the task of developing efficient linguistic algorithms for internet troll detection more complicated. However, the problem can be alleviated by our ability to predict what the value of the troll coefficient of a certain group of texts would be if it depended solely on these texts’ creation time.
Steak tournedos or beef Wellington: an attempt to understand the meaning of Stone Age transformative techniques
Authors: Schmidt Patrick
Published: November 2021

Research into human uniqueness is gaining increasing importance in prehistoric archaeology. The most striking behaviour unique to early and modern humans among other primates is perhaps that they used fire to transform the properties of materials. In Archaeology, these processes are sometimes termed “engineering” or “transformative techniques” because they aim at producing materials with altered properties. Were such transformative techniques cognitively more demanding than other tool making processes? Were they the key factors that separated early humans, such as Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, from other hominins? Many approaches to investigating these techniques rely on their complexity. The rationale behind this is that some techniques required more steps than others, thus revealing the underlying mechanisms of human uniqueness (e.g., unique human culture). However, it has been argued that the interpretation of process complexity may be prone to arbitrariness (i.e., different researchers have different notions of what is complex). Here I propose an alternative framework for interpreting transformative techniques. Three hypotheses are derived from an analogy with well-understood processes in modern-day cuisine. The hypotheses are about i) the requirement in time and/or raw materials of transformative techniques, ii) the difficulty to succeed in conducting transformative techniques and iii) the necessity to purposefully invent transformative techniques, as opposed to discovering them randomly. All three hypotheses make testable predictions.
Improvement of the electroluminescence performance from Er-doped Al2O3 nanofilms by insertion of atomic Ga2O3 layers
Authors: Yuan Kang , Yang Li , Yang Yang , Sun Jiaming
Published: November 2021

Metal-oxide-semiconductor light-emitting devices (MOSLEDs) based on erbium doped Al2O3 nanofilms still suffer from insufficient and unstable electrical injection. Here, Al2O3/Ga2O3:Er nanolaminate films are fabricated by atomic layer deposition on silicon, in which the insertion of atomic Ga2O3 layers greatly improves the tolerance to the electric field and electron injection of the Al2O3:Er MOSLEDs, thus leading to the outstanding electroluminescence (EL) performance. The maximum injection current is raised from 0.21 A/cm2 up to 1.05 A/cm2 with the optical power density reaching 10.23 mW/cm2. Much higher excitation efficiencies are also achieved with an external quantum efficiency of 14.2% and a power efficiency of 0.16%. Moreover, the operation time of the prototype Al2O3/Ga2O3:Er MOSLEDs is enhanced 21 times compared with the devices without Ga2O3. In addition, the Al2O3/Ga2O3:Er nanolaminate devices can realize EL under alternating-current excitation. This work supplies a promising route to improve the EL performance of rare earth doped Al2O3 nanofilms for the applications in optoelectronics.
Time-dependent simulation of photocurrent-detected two-dimensional spectroscopy of open systems
Authors: Chen Qizhou , Kwok Yan Ho , Zhou Weijun , Chen Guanhua , Mukamel Shaul
Published: November 2021

A new time-domain simulation protocol of two-dimensional electronic spectra with photocurrent detection is presented. Time-dependent density functional theory for open systems at finite temperature is applied to evaluate the photocurrent response to four laser pulses, and a non-perturbative phase-matching approach is implemented to extract the fourth-order photocurrent signal with a desired phase-matching condition. Simulations for an open three-level model indicates that transition dipoles interact resonantly with the incident pulses and that different sample–electrode couplings may be identified by appearance of different peaks/valleys in photocurrent spectra from different electrodes. Moreover, qualitative reproduction of experimental spectra of a PbS quantum dot photocell [Karki et al., Nat. Commun. 5(1), 5869 (2014)] reveals the stimulated electron dynamics.
Verb-final conjunct clauses in Old English prose
Authors: Cichosz Anna
Published: November 2021

The aim of this study is to analyse intertextual differences in the use of V-final order in Old English conjunct
clauses and to determine to what extent the source of these differences may be Latin influence. The analysis reveals that the
frequency of V-final order in OE conjuncts is rather limited in most texts, and Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica
surfaces as the text in which the frequency of V-final conjunct clauses is exceptionally high. The study shows that the regular
use of V-final order in Bede may be interpreted as a translation effect, with Latin inflating the frequency of the pattern in
conjunct clauses, which means that the frequency of V-final conjunct clauses in early OE translations may not reflect native
tendencies.
From case to topology
Authors: Hansen Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard
Published: November 2021

The Scanian dialect of Middle Danish underwent a range of changes and reductions in its case system. I argue that these changes were caused neither by phonological developments nor by language contact as often assumed, but by multiple processes of grammaticalisation. The present paper focuses on one of these factors: that the relatively predictable constituent order within the Middle Danish noun phrase made case marking redundant in its function of marking noun-phrase internal agreement between head and modifier(s). This redundancy caused the case system to undergo a regrammation where the indexical sign relations changed so that the expression of morphological case no longer indicated this noun-phrase-internal agreement, leaving only topology (as well as morphologically marked number and gender agreement) as markers of this type of agreement. This factor contributed to the subsequent degrammation of the entire case system.
Phyllachora maydis
. [Distribution map].
Authors: CABI  , EPPO
Published: November 2021

A new distribution map is provided for
Phyllachora maydis
Maublanc. Sordariomycetes: Phyllachorales: Phyllachoraceae. Host: maize (
Zea mays
). Information is given on the geographical distribution in North America (Canada, Ontario, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands, USA, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin), and South America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela).
Potato yellowing virus. [Distribution map].
Authors: CABI  , EPPO
Published: November 2021

A new distribution map is provided for Potato yellowing virus. Bromoviridae: Ilarvirus. Hosts: potato (
Solanum tuberosum
), wild
Solanum
spp. Information is given on the geographical distribution in South America (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).
Seeking social justice in crisis: socio-economic rights and citizenship in post-2000 Zimbabwe
Authors: Pikovskaia Kristina
Published: November 2021

The manifestations of the post-2000 economic crisis in Zimbabwe have long been a research subject for scholars who study issues of social justice in Zimbabwe. This article reviews three recent books written on the topic: Simukai Chigudu’s The political life of an epidemic: cholera, crisis and citizenship in Zimbabwe, Davison Muchadenyika’s Seeking urban transformation: alternative urban futures in Zimbabwe, and Building from the rubble: the labour movement in Zimbabwe since 2000, edited by Lloyd Sachikonye, Brian Raftopoulos and Godfrey Kanyenze. Although these works focus on different issues – a healthcare emergency, an urban housing crisis, and the labour movement’s decline, several themes cut across all of them: the economic and political crises, urban politics, experiences of citizenship, and social injustice. Addressing different socio-economic and political processes that emerged due to the crisis, the authors come to a common and important conclusion that despite the rigid political system and persisting social injustice, substantive and substantial changes in Zimbabwe may be achieved through grassroots social mobilisation and collective action.
Materials and possible mechanisms of extremely large magnetoresistance: a review
Authors: Niu Rui , Zhu W K
Published: November 2021

Magnetoresistance (MR) is a characteristic that the resistance of a substance changes with the external magnetic field, reflecting various physical origins and microstructures of the substance. A large MR, namely a huge response to a low external field, has always been a useful functional feature in industrial technology and a core goal pursued by physicists and materials scientists. Conventional large MR materials are mainly manganites, whose colossal MR (CMR) can be as high as −90%. The dominant mechanism is attributed to spin configuration aligned by the external field, which reduces magnetic scattering and thus resistance. In recent years, some new systems have shown an extremely large unsaturated MR (XMR). Unlike ordinary metals, the positive MR of these systems can reach 103%–108% and is persistent under super high magnetic fields. The XMR materials are mainly metals or semimetals, distributed in high-mobility topological or non-topological systems, and some are magnetic, which suggests a wide range of application scenarios. Various mechanisms have been proposed for the potential physical origin of XMR, including electron–hole compensation, steep band, ultrahigh mobility, high residual resistance ratio, topological fermions, etc. It turns out that some mechanisms play a leading role in certain systems, while more are far from clearly defined. In addition, the researches on XMR are largely overlapped or closely correlated with other recently rising physics and materials researches, such as topological matters and two-dimensional (2D) materials, which makes elucidating the mechanism of XMR even more important. Moreover, the disclosed novel properties will lay a broad and solid foundation for the design and development of functional devices. In this review, we will discuss several aspects in the following order: (I) introduction, (II) XMR materials and classification, (III) proposed mechanisms for XMR, (IV) correlation with other systems (featured), and (V) conclusions and outlook.
An intelligent fault diagnosis method for rolling bearings based on feature transfer with improved DenseNet and joint distribution adaptation
Authors: Qian Chenhui , Jiang Quansheng , Shen Yehu , Huo Chunran , Zhang Qingkui
Published: November 2021

Mechanical intelligent fault diagnosis is an important method to accurately identify the health status of mechanical equipment. Traditional fault diagnosis methods perform poorly in the diagnosis of rolling bearings under complex conditions. In this paper, a feature transfer learning model based on improved DenseNet and joint distribution adaptation (FT-IDJ) is proposed. With this model, we apply it to implement rolling bearing fault diagnosis. A lightweight DenseNet model is firstly proposed to extract the transferable features of the raw vibration signal. Furthermore, the parameters in the DenseNet are constrained by the domain adaptive regularization term and pseudo label learning. The marginal distribution discrepancy and the conditional distribution discrepancy of the learned transferable features are reduced by this way. The proposed method is validated by the diagnosis experiments with CWRU and Jiangnan University rolling bearing datasets. The experimental results showed that the proposed FT-IDJ can classify common rolling bearing faults such as inner ring fault, outer ring fault and rolling element fault. Also, it has higher classification accuracy than DAN and other eight methods, which demonstrates its effectively learning transferable features from auxiliary data.
Evaluation of a micro ionization chamber for dosimetric measurements in image-guided preclinical irradiation platforms
Authors: Silvestre Patallo Ileana , Carter Rebecca , Maughan David , Nisbet Andrew , Schettino Giuseppe , Subiel Anna
Published: November 2021

Image-guided small animal irradiation platforms deliver small radiation fields in the medium energy x-ray range. Commissioning of such platforms, followed by dosimetric verification of treatment planning, are mostly performed with radiochromic film. There is a need for independent measurement methods, traceable to primary standards, with the added advantage of immediacy in obtaining results. This investigation characterizes a small volume ionization chamber in medium energy x-rays for reference dosimetry in preclinical irradiation research platforms. The detector was exposed to a set of reference x-ray beams (0.5–4 mm Cu HVL). Leakage, reproducibility, linearity, response to detector’s orientation, dose rate, and energy dependence were determined for a 3D PinPoint ionization chamber (PTW 31022). Polarity and ion recombination were also studied. Absorbed doses at 2 cm depth were compared, derived either by applying the experimentally determined cross-calibration coefficient at a typical small animal radiation platform ‘user’s’ quality (0.84 mm Cu HVL) or by interpolation from air kerma calibration coefficients in a set of reference beam qualities. In the range of reference x-ray beams, correction for ion recombination was less than 0.1%. The largest polarity correction was 1.4% (for 4 mm Cu HVL). Calibration and correction factors were experimentally determined. Measurements of absorbed dose with the PTW 31022, in conditions different from reference were successfully compared to measurements with a secondary standard ionization chamber. The implementation of an End-to-End test for delivery of image-targeted small field plans resulted in differences smaller than 3% between measured and treatment planning calculated doses. The investigation of the properties and response of a PTW 31022 small volume ionization chamber in medium energy x-rays and small fields can contribute to improve measurement uncertainties evaluation for reference and relative dosimetry of small fields delivered by preclinical irradiators while maintaining the traceability chain to primary standards.
An investigation of the physical dynamics of a traveling wave solution called a bright soliton
Authors: Duran Serbay
Published: November 2021

This study examines the

1
+
2

-dimensional Zoomeron equation, which has recently become popular in applied mathematics and physics. Bright soliton (non-topological), kink wave solution and traveling wave solutions are generated with the advantages of the generalized exponential rational function method. With the help of this method, it is aimed to produce different types of solutions for the Zoomeron equation compared to other traditional exponential function methods. The effects of parameters on the amplitude of the wave function are discussed, along with physical explanations backed by simulations. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the method for the

1
+
2

-dimensional Zoomeron equation are discussed.
Development of Pulsar Digital Backend Based on RFSoC
Authors: Ergesh Toktonur , Li Jian , Duan Xue-Feng , Pei Xin , Wen Zhi-Gang
Published: November 2021

Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC) offers great potential for implementing a complete next generation signal processing system on a single board for radio astronomy. We designed a pulsar digital backend system based on the ZCU111 board. The system uses RFSoC technology to implement digitization, channelization, correlation and high-speed data transmission in the Xilinx ZU28DR device. We have evaluated the performance of the eight 12-bit RF-ADCs, which are integrated in RFSoC, with the maximum sampling rate of 4.096 GSPS. The RF-ADC sampling frequency, channel bandwidth and time resolution can be configured dynamically in our designed system. To verify the system performance, we deployed the RFSoC board on the Nanshan 26 m radio telescope and observed the pulsar signal with a frequency resolution of 1 MHz and time resolution of 64 μs. In the observation test, we obtained pulsar profiles with high signal-to-noise ratio and accurately searched the DM values. The experimental results show that the performance of RF-ADCs, FPGA and CPU cores in RFSoC is sufficient for radio astronomy signal processing applications.
Ensemble Numerical Simulations of Realistic SEP Events and the Inspiration for Space Weather Awareness
Authors: Du Chenxi , Ao Xianzhi , Luo Bingxian , Wang Jingjing , Chen Chong , Xiong Xin , Wang Xin , Li Gang
Published: November 2021

The solar energetic particle (SEP) event is a kind of hazardous space weather phenomena, so its quantitative forecast is of great importance from the aspect of space environmental situation awareness. We present here a set of SEP forecast tools, which consists of three components : (1) a simple polytropic solar wind model to estimate the background solar wind conditions at the inner boundary of 0.1 AU (about 20 R
⊙); (2) an ice-cream-cone model to estimate the erupted coronal mass ejection (CME) parameters; and (3) the improved Particle Acceleration and Transport in the Heliosphere (iPATH) model to calculate particle fluxes and energy spectra. By utilizing the above models, we have simulated six realistic SEP events from 2010 August 14 to 2014 September 10, and compared the simulated results to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) spacecraft observations. The results show that the simulated fluxes of >10 MeV particles agree with the observations while the simulated fluxes of >100 MeV particles are higher than the observed data. One of the possible reasons is that we have adopted a simple method in the model to calculate the injection rate of energetic particles. Furthermore, we have conducted the ensemble numerical simulations over these events and investigated the effects of different background solar wind conditions at the inner boundary on SEP events. The results imply that the initial CME density plays an important role in determining the power spectrum, while the effect of varying background solar wind temperature is not significant. Naturally, we have examined the influence of CME initial density on the numerical prediction results for virtual SEP cases with different CME ejection speeds. The result shows that the effect of initial CME density variation is inversely associated with CME speed.
Data mining in the context of urban metabolism: A case study of Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland
Authors: Wiedmann N S , Athanassiadis A , Binder C R
Published: November 2021

The highest share of the global population lives in cities. The current configuration of the latter requires considerable amounts of resource flows causing the degradation of local and global ecosystems. To face the complexity of these challenges, scientists use the concept of urban metabolism (UM), i.e. measuring urban input and output flows from a systemic perspective. This accounting method results in a large data collection from multiple sources that are often not harmonised. Metabolism of Cities Data Hub is an online platform which facilitates data collection, processing and visualisation in order to extract urban metabolism insights. This work highlights the challenges faced when mining urban metabolism data in the case of Lausanne and Geneva, as well as provides insights on how data could be best used from users and providers. Slight differences between the two case studies, in terms of data accessibility and availability where experienced but the main challenges revolved around data copyright, format and availability. As a conclusion, the used tool can enable harmonisation and standardisation of UM data. As such it could contribute to the use of data mining to streamline the environmental monitoring of cities as well as facilitate the creation of mitigation strategies.
ProsNet – a Modelica library for prosumer-based heat networks: description and validation
Authors: Elizarov I , Licklederer T
Published: November 2021

Prosumer-based heat networks are a new concept in district heating systems that uses the ability of prosumers to operate as either producers or consumers. This type of networks allows for utilizing distributed heat generation and renewable energy sources. A broad range of individual operating modes, heat generation technologies, and topologies determine complex thermo-hydraulic behavior of such networks. Simulations help gain insights into their properties. In this paper, a Modelica library ProsNet is presented for such simulations. It is designed to set up models of prosumer-based heat networks to investigate their dynamic and steady-state performance in a user-friendly way. Important models of the library are described in more detail. Finally, a successful validation of the developed components was performed by comparing simulation results with another software for modeling bidirectional heat networks in steady-state.
An assessment of operational economic benefits of renewable energy communities in Belgium
Authors: Felice Alex , Rakocevic Lucija , Peeters Leen , Messagie Maarten , Coosemans Thierry , Camargo Luis Ramirez
Published: November 2021

Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are anticipated as key means to restructure the energy system in the European Union. However, there are still many open questions regarding the needed conditions that would allow their extensive roll-out. Here we propose a techno-economic model to assess the conditions needed by RECs to operate in an economic beneficial way in the Belgian context. The results indicate that while user type, user consumption and electricity tariff design are important, they are not as important as the amount of installed flexible technology, e.g. heat pumps or electric vehicles, to reduce operational costs. In scenarios with high penetration of flexible technologies the annual operational costs of the REC can be up to 17 % lower than the operational costs of the business-as-usual situation.
The Solar Block Generator: an additive parametric method for solar driven urban block design
Authors: Natanian Jonathan , Luca Francesco De , Wortmann Thomas , Capeluto Guedi
Published: November 2021

This paper addresses the limitations of existing Solar Envelope (SE) methods to explore the trade-offs of solar radiation and urban shading, and to simultaneously account for several different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It offers an alternative parametric workflow - the Solar Block Generator (SBG) - which is based on an additive voxelization method by which multiple solar-driven massing alternatives are generated and evaluated for a given site, corresponding to a set of user-defined environmental KPIs. This method is tested here on an urban redevelopment case study in the Mediterranean (Tel Aviv). The results help achieve a more holistic approach for solar driven urban design.
Impact of multiple reflections on urban acoustics
Authors: Bort Inès de , Beckers Benoit
Published: November 2021

Understanding how the urban form contributes to noise is important for the successful acoustic design of cities. The amplification of sound is mainly due to the multiple reflections that occur between the high and parallel walls of urban canyons. This study explores the use of ray tracing at the urban scale through the measurement and simulation of three configurations. These are referred to as “1D”, “2D” and “3D”. Impulse response measurements performed at points located on the top of the façades show an increase of 6 dB for the “2D” case and 11 dB for the “3D” case. These results are consistent with ray tracing simulations. This kind of simulation is useful to determine the influence of the street aspect ratio on the sound level. Since specular reflections are related to geometry, a spatialized representation is proposed and discussed.
A simplified procedure to improve the usability of hydrodynamic modelling software in regenerative urban design
Authors: Pereira Guimarães M. , Moredia Valek A. , Dessi V. , Clementi M.
Published: November 2021

Densely urbanized areas are greatly exposed to the risks from climate change as reported by IPCC in 2018. In particular, compact urban settings afflicted by heavy storms and droughts, coupled with the intensification of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and incremental heat waves require a requalification of the outdoor environment that accommodates for both strategic water management and enhanced microclimatic conditions. The present study proposes simplified procedures to enable the application of complex hydrodynamic modelling software (SWMM), by non-expert users (such as planners and designers), in the preliminary phases of an urban space project according to a water-sensitive urban design approach. In the paper, Italian multi-level regulations aimed at controlling the impacts of excessive rainfall in urban areas are taken into account as well as the integration of circular water management systems with evaporative cooling strategies. The proposed procedure is focused on two aspects: 1- to simplify the steps needed to convert the existing climatic data to provide a numerical sequence, to insert into the software; 2- to define a set of pre-compiled and multi-purposed solutions toolkits for the design of urban spaces that can be imported into the software through an external database.
Optimizing solar access and density in Tel Aviv: Benchmarking multi-objective optimization algorithms
Authors: Wortmann Thomas , Natanian Jonathan
Published: November 2021

This paper explores the trade-off between redeveloping an urban site with higher density and maintaining solar access for the surrounding context in the hot and dry climate of Tel Aviv. Such trade-offs are important for future urban development in the Middle East, where densification is a demographic and environmental need. We explore this trade-off with multi-objective optimization (MOO). Specifically, we benchmark seven MOO algorithms on two test problems with different, parametric typologies: courtyard and high-rise. For both problems, we aim to maximize Floor Area Ratio and the simulation-based Context Exposure Index, a novel metric based on the Israeli green building code. The high-rise emerges as the better performing typology, and HypE, SPEA2, and RBFMOpt as the most efficient and robust MOO algorithms.
Heat flow metering in building practice - A critical field study for a large industrial building complex
Authors: Walther Karl , Voss Karsten
Published: November 2021

Increasingly complex concepts for the heating and cooling supply of buildings require both intelligent and transparent operational management strategies. One way of sequencing and coordinating different generator components is to include information about heat flows on the consumption side. In addition to heat meters, modern pumps also provide heat flow detection. The present study compares the heat flow detection via heat meters and pumps for multiple hydraulic circuits in the operating phase of a large industrial demonstration object. In particular, the influence of typical errors in the installation of the temperature measurement and their elimination are quantified.
District heating network modelling for future integration of solar thermal energy
Authors: Dromart Clement , Puthod Loïc , Kämpf Jérôme H. , Gunten Diane von
Published: November 2021

A key advantage of district heating networks is their ability to integrate different renewable energy sources, from geothermal to solar. However, the success of this integration depends on a variety of design and technical decisions, such as feed-in locations or operating temperatures, which need to be compared and analysed. For this purpose, dynamic models of district heating grids, which allow for an hourly representation of the thermodynamic conditions, are necessary. This type of models are nevertheless still uncommon, drastically limiting options to perform these comparisons accurately. To address this challenge, an open-source tool to model district heating networks is presented here and successfully applied to two case studies in western Switzerland. These simulations are then used in conjunction with simplified models of storage and solar thermal collectors to investigate, in a preliminary way, the impact of solar thermal integration on the mass flow and temperature of the network pipes, illustrating the interest of the proposed method to compare different configurations of renewable heat injections in district heating networks.
Impact of roof geometry on cross-ventilation in vaulted buildings: a CFD study
Authors: Sadeghfar Milad , Sahebzadeh Sadra
Published: November 2021

The roof geometry is an important parameter in determining the natural cross-ventilation in buildings. Although many studies have been performed on natural ventilation, the impact of the large set of vaulted roofs on the building cross-ventilation remains to be addressed. In this paper, high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, validated with experimental data, are performed on five naturally ventilated buildings with two opposing windows, each with a specific type of vaulted roof and otherwise identical, in 0° incident flow angle, to assess the impact of vaulted roof geometry on the building cross-ventilation performance. The following vault geometries are investigated and compared against a flat-roof building with the same specifications: (i) segmental, (ii) low-rise pointed, (iii) mid-rise catenary (iv) high-rise pointed and (v) high-rise catenary. The results show that compared to the flat-roof building, the vaulted roofs cause a <5% decrease in volume flow rate and 16-29% increase in the average mean velocity magnitude at the occupants’ level. In vaulted buildings, the low-velocity regions of the flow are moved further away from the occupied zone towards the ceiling, thus providing a fresher air to the occupants. The results clarify the high potential of vaulted roofs for natural ventilation and sustainable design.
Exploring the relationship between light and subjective alertness using personal lighting conditions
Authors: van Duijnhoven J. , Aarts M.P.J. , van den Heuvel E.R. , Kort H.S.M.
Published: November 2021

The discovery of the ipRGCs was thought to fully explain the mechanism behind the relationship between light and effects beyond vision such as alertness. However, this relationship turned out to be more complicated. The current paper describes, by using personal lighting conditions in a field study, further exploration of the relationship between light and subjective alertness during daytime. Findings show that this relationship is highly dependent on the individual. Although nearly all dose-response curves between personal lighting conditions and subjective alertness determined in this study turned out to be not significant, the results may be of high importance in the exploration of the exact relationship.
Performance gap analysis of a new Minergie A/P district
Authors: Brischoux Pauline , Schneider Stefan , Hollmuller Pierre
Published: November 2021

The eco-district “Les Vergers”, located in Meyrin (Geneva, Switzerland), hosts around 1’350 dwellings and some activities. It is heated by a 5 MWth geothermal centralized heat pump. This study proposes a detailed analysis of the thermal demand of 23 selected buildings in this district as a representative panel of buildings meeting high swiss energy performance standards (Minergie A/P) and equipped with different heat recovery systems. Although the buildings have better thermal performance than the average buildings of Geneva, most show an important performance gap between the actual space heating demand and the design values. A strong correlation between performance gap and cut-off temperature of the heating system suggests that the regulation of the heat distribution system plays a determinant role in the overall performance. Regarding the domestic hot water preparation, the buildings of this district present an average demand 23% lower than the standard value and 31% lower than a benchmark.
Domestic hot water optimizing potential in existing or renovated multifamily residential buildings
Authors: Flourentzou Flourentzos , Pereira Joshua
Published: November 2021

In a Swiss case study of the ReCO2st research project, hot water optimization demonstrated a high potential for energy savings with low investment costs. The optimization started with the end user to reduce first hot water consumption. Energy-efficient showerheads and faucets reduced hot water consumption by 10 to 25%, notably from 65.2 [l/p.day] to 48 [l/p.day] for the period of September to October 2019. A multi-criteria selection of showerheads involved end users considering other qualitative aspects like rinsing efficiency, overall feel of use, noise, and material robustness. Strict control of pipe and storing tank insulation reduced storage and distribution losses. Day and night storage temperature setpoints, water recirculation time, switching off this process after 11:00 p.m., temperature differential of start and stop loading setpoints, creating long loading cycles, ensure that the pipes are not always hot. Reducing Legionella cycles at 60° to once a day avoided the need for continuous high temperatures. The combination of all these soft measures in the Swiss case study resulted in a reduction of energy consumption for hot water of 20-30%. This is equivalent to the installation of expensive solar panels for hot water. A detailed two-year monitoring of the building's hot water consumption shows the contribution of each optimization measure. The encouraging results show that without perfect control of the entire process, it is impossible to avoid a performance gap between planned and actual energy consumption.
Thermal energy autonomy study for a reference house equipped with PV panels, a heat pump and PCM storage elements
Authors: Robadey J. , Vuilleumier S. , Niederhäuser E.-L.
Published: November 2021

Despite their rapid growth, renewable energies cannot provide energy on demand, which is an essential requirement for heating buildings. To this end, we developed heat exchangers with Phase Change Materials that allow the on-demand charge, storage and discharge of thermal energy. In this paper we evaluate the storage capacities needed to achieve thermal energy autonomy. An existing reference house, meteorological data from MeteoSwiss and solar radiation intensity were used to evaluate the thermal needs and the solar power production for the year 2019. To heat the building an air-water heat pump is preferably powered by solar energy. The calculations have been performed from October to March. Using 1200 litres of PCM, a thermal autonomy of 100% was achieved for March and October. In February, November and December, 24 days could not reach a thermal autonomy. For the month of January that was studied in detail 15 days are self-sufficient. By increasing the PCM volume to 2’600 litres 5 more days become self-sufficient. To achieve total building heating autonomy, seasonal storage is necessary.
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment on City Quarter Level – A Case Study of Redensification
Authors: Meier-Dotzler Christina , Harter Hannes , Banihashemi Farzan , Lang Werner
Published: November 2021

The German and European climate action programs and the ongoing discussion of resource efficiency require an in-depth analysis of the building sector, especially with the background of the German refurbishment backlog and high energy demands of the German building stock. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on the city quarter level allows fast and efficient evaluation of environmental impacts, emissions, and energy demands of densification in urban areas. This study presents LCA results for a specific urban city quarter. Thereby environmental and energetic values for specific building ages are developed and used to conduct LCA for the building construction and technical building services components. A 3D city model in CityGML-format of residential buildings serves as the basis for assessment. The results can be used to identify decisive drivers of energy demands and emissions and the saving potentials of different building development scenarios.
Completely geometric theory II: basics of quantum mechanics
Authors: Siparov S V
Published: November 2021

The geometrical approach suggested earlier, makes it possible to investigate the regions both in mega-and micro worlds that cannot be accessed by the direct observation. This makes it possible not only to interpret the basic experiments of quantum mechanics in a new way but also to escape the paradoxes stemming from the wave function introduction. It also gives perspectives to adjust the quantum mechanics and the relativity theory.
Spatio-temporal variation in dry season determines the Amazonian fire calendar
Authors: Carvalho Nathália S , Anderson Liana O , Nunes Cássio A , Pessôa Ana C M , Silva Junior Celso H L , Reis João B C , Shimabukuro Yosio E , Berenguer Erika , Barlow Jos , Aragão Luiz E O C
Published: November 2021

Fire is one of the main anthropogenic drivers that threatens the Amazon. Despite the clear link between rainfall and fire, the spatial and temporal relationship between these variables is still poorly understood in the Amazon. Here, we stratified the Amazon basin according to the dry season onset/end and investigated its relationship with the spatio-temporal variation of fire. We used monthly time series of active fires from 2003 to 2019 to characterize the fire dynamics throughout the year and to identify the fire peak months. More than 50% (32 246) of the annual mean active fires occurred in the peak month. In 52% of the cells, the peaks occurred between August–September and in 48% between October–March, showing well-defined seasonal patterns related to spatio-temporal variation of the dry season. Fire peaks occurred in the last two months of the dry season in 67% of the cells and in 20% in the first month of the rainy season. The shorter the dry season, the more concentrated was the occurrence of active fires in the peak month, with a predominance above 70% in cells with a dry season between one and three months. We defined a Critical Fire Period by identifying the consecutive months that concentrated at least 80% of active fires in the year. This period included two to three months between January and March in the northwest, and in the far north it lasted up to seven months, ending in March–April. In the south, it varied between two and three months, starting in August. In the northeast, it was three to four months, between August and December. By quantifying the role of the dry season in driving fire seasonality across the Amazon basin, we provide recommendations to monitor fire dynamics that can support decision makers in management policies and measures to avoid environmentally or socially harmful fires.
Impact of dust-cloud-radiation interactions on surface albedo: a case study of ‘Tiramisu’ snow in Urumqi, China
Authors: Chen Siyu , Bi Hongru , Zhang Renhe , Wang Yong , Guo Jianping , Zhao Dan , Chen Yu , Guan Yawen , Xie Zhaoyang
Published: November 2021

Dust–cloud–surface radiation interactions are a complex nonlinear relation referring to the influences of both atmospheric dust and dust-on-snow on surface albedo. A ‘Tiramisu’ snow event occurred on 1 December 2018, in Urumqi, China, providing an excellent testbed for exploring the comprehensive effect induced by atmospheric dust and those deposited atop fresh snowpack on surface radiation. A detailed analysis indicates that the decrease of snow albedo by 0.17–0.26 (22%–34%) is contributed by the effects both the dust–cloud interactions and dust-on-snow at synoptic scale in this case. In particular, dust well mixed with ice clouds at altitudes of 2.5–5.5 km disrupted the ‘seeder–feeder’ structure of clouds and heterogeneous ice nucleation. Dust-induced changes in the low layer of ice clouds (3.3–5.5 km) under a low temperature of –20 °C resulted in a 31.8% increase in the ice particle radius and 84.6% increase in the ice water path, which acted to indirectly buffer the incident solar radiation reaching the surface. Dust particles deposited on the snow surface further caused snow darkening since the snow albedo was found to decrease by 11.8%–23.3%. These findings underscore the importance of considering the comprehensive effect of dust–cloud–radiation interactions in the future.
Nonlinear response of Asian summer monsoon precipitation to emission reductions in South and East Asia
Authors: Herbert Ross , Wilcox Laura J , Joshi Manoj , Highwood Ellie , Frame Dave
Published: November 2021

Anthropogenic aerosols over South and East Asia currently have a stronger impact on the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) than greenhouse gas emissions, yet projected aerosol emission changes in these regions are subject to considerable uncertainties such as timescale, location, or emission type. We use a circulation/climate model with idealised aerosol distributions to demonstrate that the sum of ASM responses to aerosol emission reductions in each region is very different to the response to simultaneous reductions in both regions, implying the ASM response to aerosol emissions reductions is highly nonlinear. The phenomenon is independent of whether aerosols are scattering or absorbing, and results from interaction of induced atmospheric circulation changes. The nonlinearity from interactions between aerosol forcing from different regions represents a new source of uncertainty in projections of ASM changes over the next 30–40 years, and may limit the utility of country-dependent aerosol trajectories when considering their Asia-wide effects, though we recommend further work to establish whether the nonlinearity is buffered by other drivers. To understand likely changes in the ASM due to aerosol reductions, countries will need to accurately take account of emissions reductions from across the wider region, rather than approximating them using simple scenarios and emulators. The nonlinearity in the response to forcing therefore presents a regional public goods issue for countries affected by the ASM, as the costs and benefits of aerosol emissions reductions are not internalised; in fact, forcings from different countries such as India and China work jointly to determine outcomes across the region.