Qualitative representation of outdoor environment along route

This work is centred on an ancient Italian church. Since 2011, a restoration plan has been undertaken by following sequential phases. The methodological approach to restoration was guided by environmental monitoring campaigns. In particular, two thermo-hygrometric campaigns were carried out during the warm months of the years 2015 and 2016. The first set of measurements was executed during the restoration of facades and roofs, making it possible to reach even areas that are usually difficult to access. The second set was performed to evaluate the indoor thermo-hygrometric conditions following the work of the previous year. This was intended to assess their differences in variability, the influence of the outdoor environment and any real and perceived improvement. Results demonstrate that thermal images helped in identifying both the heat sources causing thermal discomforts and the good thermal capacity of masonries. Concerning the heat index (HI), the church showed an improvement in the trend of malaise perceived by people during the second summer period (∼2°C lower than 2015). Finally, in the last microclimate monitoring, the roof structure no longer acted as an amplifier for daily temperature excursions.

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Robust Quadrotor Control through Reinforcement Learning with Disturbance Compensation

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11073257 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 3257

Author(s):

Chen-Huan Pi ◽

Wei-Yuan Ye ◽

Stone Cheng

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Reinforcement Learning ◽

Control Strategy ◽

External Disturbance ◽

Control Agent ◽

Network Control ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Disturbance Compensation ◽

Tracking Accuracy ◽

Control Scheme

In this paper, a novel control strategy is presented for reinforcement learning with disturbance compensation to solve the problem of quadrotor positioning under external disturbance. The proposed control scheme applies a trained neural-network-based reinforcement learning agent to control the quadrotor, and its output is directly mapped to four actuators in an end-to-end manner. The proposed control scheme constructs a disturbance observer to estimate the external forces exerted on the three axes of the quadrotor, such as wind gusts in an outdoor environment. By introducing an interference compensator into the neural network control agent, the tracking accuracy and robustness were significantly increased in indoor and outdoor experiments. The experimental results indicate that the proposed control strategy is highly robust to external disturbances. In the experiments, compensation improved control accuracy and reduced positioning error by 75%. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to achieve quadrotor positioning control through low-level reinforcement learning by using a global positioning system in an outdoor environment.

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An Analysis of the External Validity of EEG Spectral Power in an Uncontrolled Outdoor Environment during Default and Complex Neurocognitive States

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11030330 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 330

Author(s):

Dalton J. Edwards ◽

Logan T. Trujillo

Keyword(s):

External Validity ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Brain State ◽

Beta Band ◽

Eeg Spectral Power ◽

Eeg Power ◽

Human Participants

Traditionally, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) studies collect data within controlled laboratory environments that limit the external validity of scientific conclusions. To probe these validity limits, we used a mobile EEG system to record electrophysiological signals from human participants while they were located within a controlled laboratory environment and an uncontrolled outdoor environment exhibiting several moderate background influences. Participants performed two tasks during these recordings, one engaging brain activity related to several complex cognitive functions (number sense, attention, memory, executive function) and the other engaging two default brain states. We computed EEG spectral power over three frequency bands (theta: 4–7 Hz, alpha: 8–13 Hz, low beta: 14–20 Hz) where EEG oscillatory activity is known to correlate with the neurocognitive states engaged by these tasks. Null hypothesis significance testing yielded significant EEG power effects typical of the neurocognitive states engaged by each task, but only a beta-band power difference between the two background recording environments during the default brain state. Bayesian analysis showed that the remaining environment null effects were unlikely to reflect measurement insensitivities. This overall pattern of results supports the external validity of laboratory EEG power findings for complex and default neurocognitive states engaged within moderately uncontrolled environments.

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Application Method of a Simplified Heat and Moisture Transfer Model of Building Construction in Residential Buildings

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14144180 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (14) ◽

pp. 4180

Author(s):

Joowook Kim ◽

Michael Brandemuehl

Keyword(s):

Latent Heat ◽

Moisture Transfer ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Building Energy ◽

The United States ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Transfer Model ◽

Heat And Moisture Transfer ◽

Heat And Moisture

Several building energy simulation programs have been developed to evaluate the indoor conditions and energy performance of buildings. As a fundamental component of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning loads, each building energy modeling tool calculates the heat and moisture exchange among the outdoor environment, building envelope, and indoor environments. This paper presents a simplified heat and moisture transfer model of the building envelope, and case studies for building performance obtained by different heat and moisture transfer models are conducted to investigate the contribution of the proposed steady-state moisture flux (SSMF) method. For the analysis, three representative humid locations in the United States are considered: Miami, Atlanta, and Chicago. The results show that the SSMF model effectively complements the latent heat transfer calculation in conduction transfer function (CTF) and effective moisture penetration depth (EMPD) models during the cooling season. In addition, it is found that the ceiling part of a building largely constitutes the latent heat generated by the SSMF model.

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RTLIO: Real-Time LiDAR-Inertial Odometry and Mapping for UAVs

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21123955 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (12) ◽

pp. 3955

Author(s):

Jung-Cheng Yang ◽

Chun-Jung Lin ◽

Bing-Yuan You ◽

Yin-Long Yan ◽

Teng-Hu Cheng

Keyword(s):

Feedback Control ◽

Real Time ◽

High Frequency ◽

Indoor Environment ◽

Indoor Localization ◽

Sampling Rate ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Position Accuracy ◽

Graph Optimization ◽

Pose Graph Optimization

Most UAVs rely on GPS for localization in an outdoor environment. However, in GPS-denied environment, other sources of localization are required for UAVs to conduct feedback control and navigation. LiDAR has been used for indoor localization, but the sampling rate is usually too low for feedback control of UAVs. To compensate this drawback, IMU sensors are usually fused to generate high-frequency odometry, with only few extra computation resources. To achieve this goal, a real-time LiDAR inertial odometer system (RTLIO) is developed in this work to generate high-precision and high-frequency odometry for the feedback control of UAVs in an indoor environment, and this is achieved by solving cost functions that consist of the LiDAR and IMU residuals. Compared to the traditional LIO approach, the initialization process of the developed RTLIO can be achieved, even when the device is stationary. To further reduce the accumulated pose errors, loop closure and pose-graph optimization are also developed in RTLIO. To demonstrate the efficacy of the developed RTLIO, experiments with long-range trajectory are conducted, and the results indicate that the RTLIO can outperform LIO with a smaller drift. Experiments with odometry benchmark dataset (i.e., KITTI) are also conducted to compare the performance with other methods, and the results show that the RTLIO can outperform ALOAM and LOAM in terms of exhibiting a smaller time delay and greater position accuracy.

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Bacterial community assemblages in classroom floor dust of 50 public schools in a large city: characterization using 16S rRNA sequences and associations with environmental factors

Microbiome ◽

10.1186/s40168-020-00954-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ju-Hyeong Park ◽

Angela R. Lemons ◽

Jerry Roseman ◽

Brett J. Green ◽

Jean M. Cox-Ganser

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Dna Sequences ◽

Epidemiologic Study ◽

Large City ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Gram Positive ◽

Associated Bacteria ◽

Floor Dust ◽

Bacterial Assemblages

AbstractCharacterizing indoor microbial communities using molecular methods provides insight into bacterial assemblages present in environments that can influence occupants’ health. We conducted an environmental assessment as part of an epidemiologic study of 50 elementary schools in a large city in the northeastern USA. We vacuumed dust from the edges of the floor in 500 classrooms accounting for 499 processed dust aliquots for 16S Illumina MiSeq sequencing to characterize bacterial assemblages. DNA sequences were organized into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and identified using a database derived from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Bacterial diversity and ecological analyses were performed at the genus level. We identified 29 phyla, 57 classes, 148 orders, 320 families, 1193 genera, and 2045 species in 3073 OTUs. The number of genera per school ranged from 470 to 705. The phylum Proteobacteria was richest of all while Firmicutes was most abundant. The most abundant order included Lactobacillales, Spirulinales, and Clostridiales. Halospirulina was the most abundant genus, which has never been reported from any school studies before. Gram-negative bacteria were more abundant and richer (relative abundance = 0.53; 1632 OTUs) than gram-positive bacteria (0.47; 1441). Outdoor environment-associated genera were identified in greater abundance in the classrooms, in contrast to homes where human-associated bacteria are typically more abundant. Effects of school location, degree of water damage, building condition, number of students, air temperature and humidity, floor material, and classroom’s floor level on the bacterial richness or community composition were statistically significant but subtle, indicating relative stability of classroom microbiome from environmental stress. Our study indicates that classroom floor dust had a characteristic bacterial community that is different from typical house dust represented by more gram-positive and human-associated bacteria. Health implications of exposure to the microbiomes in classroom floor dust may be different from those in homes for school staff and students.

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Influence of Occupant Behavior for Building Energy Conservation: A Systematic Review Study of Diverse Modeling and Simulation Approach

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11020041 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 41

Author(s):

Mohammad Nyme Uddin ◽

Hsi-Hsien Wei ◽

Hung Lin Chi ◽

Meng Ni

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Energy Conservation ◽

Building Energy ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Behavior Modeling ◽

Physical Factors ◽

Occupant Behavior ◽

Modeling Approaches ◽

Building Energy Conservation ◽

Review Study

Energy consumption in buildings depends on several physical factors, including its physical characteristics, various building services systems/appliances used, and the outdoor environment. However, the occupants’ behavior that determines and regulates the building energy conservation also plays a critical role in the buildings’ energy performance. Compared to physical factors, there are relatively fewer studies on occupants’ behavior. This paper reports a systematic review analysis on occupant behavior and different modeling approaches using the Scopus and Science Direct databases. The comprehensive review study focuses on the current understanding of occupant behavior, existing behavior modeling approaches and their limitations, and key influential parameters on building energy conservation. Finally, the study identifies six significant research gaps for future development: occupant-centered space layout deployment; occupant behavior must be understood in the context of developing or low-income economies; there are higher numbers of quantitative occupant behavior studies than qualitative; the extensive use of survey or secondary data and the lack of real data used in model validation; behavior studies are required for diverse categories building; building information modeling (BIM) integration with existing occupant behavior modeling/simulation. These checklists of the gaps are beneficial for researchers to accomplish the future research in the built environment.

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Window operation behaviour and indoor air quality during lockdown: A monitoring-based simulation-assisted study in London

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology ◽

10.1177/01436244211017786 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014362442110177

Author(s):

Farhang Tahmasebi ◽

Yan Wang ◽

Elizabeth Cooper ◽

Daniel Godoy Shimizu ◽

Samuel Stamp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Natural Ventilation ◽

Probabilistic Models ◽

Performance Model ◽

Outdoor Environment ◽

Ventilation Strategies ◽

The Impact

The Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in new patterns of home occupancy, the implications of which for indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy use are not well-known. In this context, the present study investigates 8 flats in London to uncover if during a lockdown, (a) IAQ in the monitored flats deteriorated, (b) the patterns of window operation by occupants changed, and (c) more effective ventilation patterns could enhance IAQ without significant increases in heating energy demand. To this end, one-year’s worth of monitored data on indoor and outdoor environment along with occupant use of windows has been used to analyse the impact of lockdown on IAQ and infer probabilistic models of window operation behaviour. Moreover, using on-site CO2 data, monitored occupancy and operation of windows, the team has calibrated a thermal performance model of one of the flats to investigate the implications of alternative ventilation strategies. The results suggest that despite the extended occupancy during lockdown, occupants relied less on natural ventilation, which led to an increase of median CO2 concentration by up to 300 ppm. However, simple natural ventilation patterns or use of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery proves to be very effective to maintain acceptable IAQ. Practical application: This study provides evidence on the deterioration of indoor air quality resulting from homeworking during imposed lockdowns. It also tests and recommends specific ventilation strategies to maintain acceptable indoor air quality at home despite the extended occupancy hours.

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