12/02/2024


Apparent capacitance was high at lower current pulses suggesting high faradaic contribution. The electrostatic contribution detected at high current pulses was quite low. The results obtained give rise to important possibilities of performance improvements by optimising the device design and the electrode fabrication.The application of adaptive comfort models is among the determinant factors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector. This research studies the region of Andalusia (south of Spain). https://www.selleckchem.com/TGF-beta.html A cluster analysis is applied to 786 Andalusian municipalities, and 4 groups are established according to the potential of adaptive strategies. A town is chosen from each group, and an hourly specific study is conducted for the last 20 years, as well as a daily study of the old time series by using an artificial neural network based on the existing climate data. The possibility of application of the EN 16798-12019 standard during the days of the year is analysed, as well as the possibilities of using natural ventilation and the possibility of using adaptive setpoint temperatures in comparison with both 3 fixed heating temperatures and 3 fixed cooling temperatures by considering the energy saving. The results to apply the standard ranged 69.0 and 100% of the days of each year. The possibilities of natural ventilation considered were greater than 10% of the hours of the year in all the assumptions. The energy saving of cooling degrees reveals a greater potential in the area studied than that of heating degrees; this tendency is supported by the study of old temporary series which are part of the climate variation predicted throughout the 21st century.Student housing significantly influences the quality and competitiveness of the university education environment. Whereas the traditional post-occupancy evaluations (POEs) of buildings have typically focussed on investigating users' satisfaction, an earlier study developed the gap theory based post-occupancy evaluation (GTbPOE) method, by which both the users' expectation and satisfaction (viz. performance gap) of a university dormitory were investigated. To validate the applicability of the GTbPOE method, further research was undertaken to evaluate the building performance of another dormitory. Using face-to-face interviews, responses of 104 dormitory users were collected, of which the relative importance ratings of six essential aspects (namely visual comfort, thermal comfort, aural comfort, fire safety, hygiene, and communication via information technology) were analyzed via the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). A series of gap analyses on the users' expectation and satisfaction levels corroborated the existence of the adaptation effect on the users' perception that is, the longer the stay, the smaller the performance gap. A comparative analysis on the findings between the two dormitories - one from the earlier study and the other from the present study - further demonstrated the usefulness of the GTbPOE method in benchmarking building performance. Adoption of this method in future POE studies will enable reliable identification of any shortcoming in building performance and hence, can form the basis for improvement measures to augment the performance of buildings within the built environment.Digitization and automation across all industries has resulted in improvements in efficiencies and effectiveness to systems and process, and the higher education sector is not immune. Online learning, e-learning, electronic teaching tools, and digital assessments are not innovations. However, there has been limited implementation of online invigilated examinations in many countries. This paper provides a brief background on online examinations, followed by the results of a systematic review on the topic to explore the challenges and opportunities. We follow on with an explication of results from thirty-six papers, exploring nine key themes student perceptions, student performance, anxiety, cheating, staff perceptions, authentication and security, interface design, and technology issues. While the literature on online examinations is growing, there is still a dearth of discussion at the pedagogical and governance levels.Good economic policymaking requires the best possible economic advice. To be an effective adviser, a policy economist needs to remain credible, even under pressure. There is a gap between theory and reality; minding the gap can help policy economists determine which theories are more likely to work as a matter of practical policymaking. Adding the human dimension makes for better decisions by casting light on how people might respond to otherwise rational policy proposals. It is not sufficient for good policy outcomes that economists confer only with their professional peers. Citizens must be persuaded that the proposed policy reform is in the best interests of the community as a whole. Good economic policymaking should not underestimate the power of incentives to override moral and ethical restraint. Regulation is a poor substitute for culturally-embedded moral restraint. While it is possible to divorce the mechanical side of economics from its moral foundations, this is not the route to good economic policymaking.To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, India imposed a national lockdown at the end of March 2020, a decision that resulted in a massive reverse migration as many workers across economic sectors returned to their home regions. Migrants provide the foundations of the agricultural workforce in the 'breadbasket' states of Punjab and Haryana in Northwest India.There are mounting concerns that near and potentially longer-term reductions in labor availability may jeopardize agricultural production and consequently national food security. The timing of rice transplanting at the beginning of the summer monsoon season has a cascading influence on productivity of the entire rice-wheat cropping system. To assess the potential for COVID-related reductions in the agriculture workforce to disrupt production of the dominant rice-wheat cropping pattern in these states, we use a spatial ex ante modelling framework to evaluate four scenarios representing a range of plausible labor constraints on the timing of rice transplanting. Averaged over both states, results suggest that rice productivity losses under all delay scenarios would be low as compare to those for wheat, with total system productivity loss estimates ranging from 9%, to 21%, equivalent to economic losses of USD $674 m to $1.