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A multiannual multipurpose experiment on atmospheric properties is being carried on at the Svalbard Islands, starting in year 2010. Major reasons of interest, both climatic and chemical, concerning the study of atmospheric aerosol, together with basic experimental features will be presented. Detailed results being presented concern 40 size-segregated aerosol samples collected in year 2010 (4 days sampling time) with a 12-stage SDI impactor and PIXE analyzed. Elemental Mass Size Distributions are fitted with lognormal functions. Up to three size modes (super-and sub-micrometric; intermediate) are determined for each element. Emphasis is given to the crustal aerosol component, due its crucial climatic rôle. Position, width and intensity of each mode of element Si are displayed, together with the ratios of the concentration of Al, Fe, Ti Mn (and possibly other elements) vs. Si, in the supermicrometric mode. These data will be used for singling out the major crustal components and helping determining their origin and their interaction with radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptually a Zero Emission Building (ZEB) is a building with greatly reduced energy demand and able to generate electricity (or other carriers) from renewable sources in order to achieve a carbon neutral balance. However, a rigorous and agreed definition of ZEB is yet to come. A parallel paper in this conference explains how a formal and comprehensive ZEB definition can be based on the evaluation of certain criteria. These criteria are extensively discussed in ongoing projects, both in Norway and internationally. The objective of this paper is to focus on two of these criteria: energy performance and credits used to measure the ZEB balance. For each criterion different options are considered and the implications they have on the building design are assessed. The case study is on a typical Norwegian single family house. It is shown that for certain choices on the two criteria options, a paradoxical situation could arise. When using off-site generation based on biomass/biofuels, achieving the ZEB balance may be easier for high energy consuming buildings than for efficient ones. This is the exact opposite of what ZEBs are meant to promote: design of energy efficient buildings with on-site generation options. Recommendations on how to avoid such a paradox are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A clear and agreed definition of Zero Emission Building (ZEB) is yet to be achieved, both internationally and in Norway. However, it is understood that both the definition and the surrounding energy supply system will affect significantly the way buildings are designed to achieve the ZEB goal. Since the energy system in Europe is expected to change significantly in the coming decades, especially for electricity, it is indispensable to tie the definition of ZEB to possible scenarios on such development of the energy system. A scenario is defined as a combination of options chosen within a framework of different uncertain futures. Two uncertainties are identified as most important for the development and deployment of ZEB: Technology development and Public attitude. These two uncertainties are used to span out a set of four relevant futures, also termed storylines, as a common background for scenario analysis. A formal definition of ZEB is characterized by a set of criteria that are: the system boundary, feeing-in possibilities, balance object, balancing period, credits, crediting method, energy performance and mismatch factors. For each criterion different options are available, and the choice of which options are more appropriate to define ZEBs may depend on the storyline features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last century, political parties have been studied either as a byproduct of social cleavages or as an organization operating in a system of other such entities. While both approaches have generated high quality research, relevant findings within the two perspectives have come at the expense of investigating the internal structure of the party. Against this background, we developed an interpretation of the party that brings back into the analysis the party's internal structure. We deem the party to be an organized network of purposive relationships between individuals that reflects national cleavages. We grounded our theory in the study of the two major Italian parties of the 1970s--the Christian Democrats, or DC, and the Communists, or PCI. We chose these two parties because they can be regarded as perfect case studies for either the cleavage-based approach or for the organization centered model. Data came from the cosponsoring of bills between parliamentary members (MPs) in the lower chamber of the Parliament during the Sixth Legislative cycle (1972-1977). We used HLM to model dyadic interactions between MPs and distinguished between repeated cosponsoring of bills (strong ties) and single occurrences of cosponsoring (weak ties). Our results show that within each party, national cleavages significantly increased the likelihood of strong ties but were not a relevant in structuring weak ties. Finally, we conclude that the internal structure of each party is a network of MPs informed by cleavages and held together by interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]