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[ES] El sobrecalentamiento es uno de los principales motivos de incomodidad térmica en las viviendas, cada vez más aisladas y herméticas. Por ello, se necesitan nuevos enfoques para solucionar este problema, especialmente en los países del sur de Europa que suelen experimentar veranos muy calurosos. La protección solar es una solución sostenible para reducir el sobrecalentamiento, pero presenta un compromiso entre el confort térmico y el visual. Aunque la falta de luz natural no es un problema en el sur de Europa, el sobrecalentamiento es un problema durante la mayor parte del año. En consecuencia, los ocupantes pueden verse obligados a elegir entre el confort térmico y el visual, con repercusiones negativas en ambos casos. El uso adecuado de la protección solar en las viviendas puede reducir el sobrecalentamiento y mejorar el confort visual, así como disminuir el consumo de refrigeración durante las estaciones cálidas. La motivación de este proyecto es comprender por qué razones los habitantes del sur de Europa utilizan sus dispositivos de protección solar (privacidad, deslumbramiento, sobrecalentamiento, luz natural, vista, etc.) y encontrar soluciones adecuadas para mejorar el confort térmico y visual de los ocupantes mediante el uso de estrategias de protección solar interna/externa. Con esta finalidad, se realizarán simulaciones de consumo energético, confort visual y confort térmico de una vivienda típica del sur de Europa. Se analizarán varias combinaciones de protección solar y usos de éstas. Se incluirán persianas externas e internas, vidrio inteligente, cristal con control solar, directrices de uso para el ocupante y un algoritmo de control para persianas automáticas., [EN] Temperatures in Southern Europe are rising due to the effects of climate change, with a consequent increase in the heat waves frequency. Therefore, new approaches to deal with overheating are required. Solar shading is a sustainable solution to reduce overheating but presents a trade off between thermal and visual comfort. Although lack of daylight is not a problem in Southern Europe, overheating is an issue for most of the year. As a result, occupants may be forced to choose between thermal and visual comfort, with negative repercussions in both cases. The master thesis presents a study focused on the potential of solar shading solutions to reduce overheating and cooling consumption without compromising daylight conditions in a typical Southern European dwelling. The study used IDA ICE 5 beta version coupled thermal and daylight simulations to assess the performance of various solar shading solutions in different modes of use, as well as the VELUX ACTIVE shading control, in terms of thermal comfort, visual comfort, and cooling consumption. According to the findings, the use of all solar shading devices reduce cooling consumption and improve thermal comfort while maintaining the required minimum of daylight. External roller shutters require active use by the occupant to provide thermal comfort without the need for mechanical cooling. However, they should be used with caution because if completely closed, they can block the required amount of daylight. Internal Venetian blinds have the lowest performance in terms of reducing overheating and cooling consumption, but they do let in enough light for most of the day. The solar control glazing allows for comfortable temperatures to be maintained without the need for any shading or mechanical cooling on the part of the user. The electrochromic glass even maintained mostly in the clear state, it enables thermal comfort without the need for mechanical cooling. When compared to manual use, the external roller shutter controlled by VELUX ACTIVE offers up to an 8% reduction in discomfort time, which translates to 413 hours. Furthermore, it implies a reduction of the total cooling consumption from 20% to 41% compared with the case without shading.

Concurrent body movements have been shown to enhance the accuracy of spatial judgment, but it remains unclear whether they also contribute to perceptual estimates of gravitational space not involving body movements. To address this, we evaluated the effects of static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged whole-body tilt on the subsequent perceptual estimates of visual or postural vertical. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to continuously perform static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt, and we assessed their effects on the prolonged tilt-induced shifts of subjective visual vertical (SVV) at a tilted position (during-tiltsession) or near upright (post-tiltsession). In Experiment 2, we evaluated how static or dynamic arm movements during prolonged tilt subsequently affected the subjective postural vertical (SPV). In Experiment 1, we observed that the SVV was significantly shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt in both sessions. The SVV shifts decreased when performing dynamic arm movements in theduring-tiltsession, but not in thepost-tiltsession. In Experiment 2, as well as SVV, the SPV was shifted toward the direction of prolonged tilt, but it was not significantly attenuated by the performance of static or dynamic arm movements. The results of theduring-tiltsession suggest that the central nervous system utilizes additional information generated by dynamic body movements for perceptual estimates of visual vertical.

Massive, long-lived deep-sea red tree corals (Primnoa pacifica) form a solid, layered axis comprised of calcite and gorgonin skeleton. They are abundant on the outer continental shelf and upper slope of the Northeast Pacific, providing habitat for fish and invertebrates. Yet, their large size and arborescent morphology makes them susceptible to disturbance from fishing activities. A better understanding of their growth patterns will facilitate in-situ estimates of population age structure and biomass. Here, we evaluated relationships between ages, growth rates, gross morphological characteristics, and banding patterns in 11 colonies collected from depths of ~141–335 m off the Alaskan coast. These corals ranged in age from 12 to 80 years old. They grew faster radially (0.33–0.74 mm year-1) and axially (2.41–6.39 cm year-1) than in previously measured older colonies, suggesting that growth in P. pacifica declines slowly with age, and that basal diameter and axial height eventually plateau. However, since coral morphology correlated with age in younger colonies (< century), we developed an in-situ age estimation technique for corals from the Northeast Pacific Ocean providing a non-invasive method for evaluating coral age without removing colonies from the population. Furthermore, we determined that annual bands provided the most accurate means for determining coral age in live-collected corals, relative to radiometric dating. Taken together, this work provides insight into P. pacifica growth patterns to inform coastal managers about the demographics of this ecologically important species. With this new ability to estimate the age of red tree corals in-situ, we can readily determine the age-class structure and consequently, the maturity status of thickets, using non-invasive video survey techniques when coupled with mensuration systems such as lasers or stereo-cameras. Enhanced surveys could identify which populations are most vulnerable to disturbance from human activities, and which should be highlighted for protection.

Contains fulltext : 225220.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) When we reach for an object during a passive whole body rotation, a tangential Coriolis force is generated on the arm. Yet, within a few trials, the brain adapts to this force so it does not disrupt the reach. Is this adaptation governed by a single-rate or dual-rate learning process? Here, guided by state-space modeling, we studied human reach adaptation in a fully-enclosed rotating room. After 90 pre-rotation reaches (baseline), participants were trained to make 240 to-and-fro reaches while the room rotated at 10 rpm (block A), then performed 6 reaches under opposite room rotation (block B), and subsequently made 100 post-rotation reaches (washout). A control group performed the same paradigm, but without the reaches during rotation block B. Single-rate and dual-rate models can be best dissociated if there would be full un-learning of compensation A during block B, but minimal learning of B. From the perspective of a dual-rate model, the un-learning observed in block B would mainly be caused by the faster state, such that the washout reaches would show retention effects of the slower state, called spontaneous recovery. Alternatively, following a single-rate model, the same state would govern the learning in block A and un-learning in block B, such that the washout reaches mimic the baseline reaches. Our results do not provide clear signs of spontaneous recovery in the washout reaches. Model fits further show that a single-rate process outperformed a dual-rate process. We suggest that a single-rate process underlies Coriolis force reach adaptation, perhaps because these forces relate to familiar body dynamics and are assigned to an internal cause. 19 p.

Težnja za kvalitetnijim te komfornijim načinom života, razvoj novih tehnologija vodi prema tehnološkom napretku koji omogućuje život u stambenim objektima s naprednim instalacijama. U ovom je radu opisan nastanak te povijest tehnologije naprednih instalacija koje koriste KNX protokole te računalni program ETS5. Osmišljen je i napravljen sustav naprednih instalacija koje obuhvaćaju rasvjetu, rolete, grijanje i hlađenje stambenih objekata. Opisani su dijelovi i komponente KNX sustava koji služi za upravljanje instalacijama u stambenom objektu. Postupak dodavanja, parametriranja i povezivanja grupnih adresa je opisan i popraćen slikama. Striving to improve our life quality and comfort we developed new technologies which led us to build and live in smart houses. The KNX protocol and its software called ETS5 are the central points of this article, so it is used to demonstrate and describe the way it works. KNX components and parts are described, especially the ones used to manage house installations like lights, shutters, heat, air conditioner, etc. The procedure of adding, parameterization and connecting group addresses is described and accompanied by pictures. Also, there is a brief history of KNX and his predecessors so that the reader get familiar with the origin of a "smart house" idea.

This study compares husbands' and wives' views on the person in a couple who should be responsible for preparing for hurricane hazards; it also examines whether the varying levels of agreement reached by husbands and wives regarding this responsibility are associated with actual preparedness behaviors. An online survey targeting married, heterosexual couples living in Sarasota County, Florida, USA was sent out between March and May, 2015. Both the husbands and the wives were asked to fill out the survey. A total of 170 surveys were used for analysis. Results suggested that husbands and wives felt that they had shared responsibility for most of the 19 preparedness behaviors considered. However, a few stereotypically masculine preparedness behaviors were found to typically fall to husbands. Husbands' and wives' views of perceived responsibility were not statistically different, but husbands tended to favor individual responsibility, while wives tended to favor joint responsibility. Higher levels of agreement were significantly associated with greater engagement in planning-related preparedness behaviors. Policy implications are discussed.

Artists can represent a 3D object by using only contours in a 2D drawing. Prior studies have shown that people can use such drawings to perceive 3D shapes reliably, but it is not clear how useful this kind of contour information actually is in a real dynamical scene in which people interact with objects. To address this issue, we developed an Augmented Reality (AR) device that can show a participant a contour-drawing or a grayscale-image of a real dynamical scene in an immersive manner. We compared the performance of people in a variety of run-of-the-mill tasks with both contour-drawings and grayscale-images under natural viewing conditions in three behavioral experiments. The results of these experiments showed that the people could perform almost equally well with both types of images. This contour information may be sufficient to provide the basis for our visual system to obtain much of the 3D information needed for successful visuomotor interactions in our everyday life.

Binocular vision refers to the integration of images in the two eyes for improved visual performance and depth perception. One aspect of binocular vision is the fixation disparity, which is a suboptimal condition in individuals with respect to binocular eye movement control and subsequent neural processing. The objective fixation disparity refers to the vergence angle between the visual axes, which is measured with eye trackers. Subjective fixation disparity is tested with two monocular nonius lines which indicate the physical nonius separation required for perceived alignment. Subjective and objective fixation disparity represent the different physiological mechanisms of motor and sensory fusion, but the precise relation between these two is still unclear. This study measures both types of fixation disparity at viewing distances of 40, 30, and 24 cm while observers fixated a central stationary fusion target. 20 young adult subjects with normal binocular vision were tested repeatedly to investigate individual differences. For heterophoria and subjective fixation disparity, this study replicated that the binocular system does not properly adjust to near targets: outward (exo) deviations typically increase as the viewing distance is shortened. This exo proximity effect-however-was not found for objective fixation disparity, which-on the average-was zero. But individuals can have reliable outward (exo) or inward (eso) vergence errors. Cases with eso objective fixation disparity tend to have less exo states of subjective fixation disparity and heterophoria. In summary, the two types of fixation disparity seem to respond in a different way when the viewing distance is shortened. Motor and sensory fusion-as reflected by objective and subjective fixation disparity-exhibit complex interactions that may differ between individuals (eso versus exo) and vary with viewing distance (far versus near vision).

The decisions that individuals make when recovering from and adapting to repeated hazards affect a region's vulnerability in future hazards. As such, community vulnerability is not a static property but rather a dynamic property dependent on behavioral responses to repeated hazards and damage. This paper is the first of its kind to build a framework that addresses the complex interactions between repeated hazards, regional damage, mitigation decisions, and community vulnerability. The framework enables researchers and regional planners to visualize and quantify how a community could evolve over time in response to repeated hazards under various behavioral scenarios. An illustrative example using parcel-level data from Anne Arundel County, Maryland-a county that experiences fairly frequent hurricanes-is presented to illustrate the methodology and to demonstrate how the interplay between individual choices and regional vulnerability is affected by the region's hurricane experience.

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Bessel beams have been successfully used in two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy to extend the depth of field (EDF), which makes it possible to observe fast events volumetrically. However, the depth information is lost due to integration of fluorescence signals along the propagation direction. We describe the design and implementation of two-photon lasers scanning stereomicroscopy, which allows viewing dynamic processes in three-dimensional (3D) space stereoscopically in real-time with shutter glasses at the speed of 1.4 volumes per second. The depth information can be appreciated by human visual system or be recovered with correspondence algorithms for some cases.