The Transfer Phenomena of Air Pollutants Emitted from Power Station and Generators in Nasiriyah City and the Effect of Meteorological Parameters on its Dispersion by Using Fixed Box Model

The study aims to use the fixed box model to calculate the spread of pollutants (CO2, SO2, NOX, particulate) resulting from the burning of fuel used to produce electrical energy in the Nasiriyah city and to know the way they spread in the city through being affected by the wind speed and compare the results calculated from the model with the results measured by the lancom4 device. The results showed that the main pollutants for the air in Nasiriyah was emitted from burning the fuel used for the production of electric power, and the results showed that the concentration of pollutants (CO2, SO2, NOX) was much higher inside the city when compared with the upstream direction of the winds due to its increase with the movement of winds and its entry into the city. Through the application of the fixed box model and when comparing the calculated results through the model with the results measured by the lancom4 device, the error rate was (4 %, 2%, 2%, 5%) for pollutants (CO2, SO2, NOX, particulate) respectively, it was also observed that the highest emission rate of pollutants was result from using heavy fuel (fuel oil) and the lowest emission was from light oil (Dry gas). We noted the spread of pollutants and dilution in the atmosphere increases with the increase in wind speed, excluding for particles mater.

ModSCO a Web Application Based on a Grey-Box Model to Support the Estimation of the Energy Savings in Building Retrofits

Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) can help the European Union (EU) in accelerating the cost-effective renovation of existing building stock. However, there are many risks and barriers that can inhibit the application of EPC. These barriers include uncertainty about building data, lack of quality assurance regarding the post-renovation energy performance, and process complexity. In order to cross these barriers, this paper presents ModSCO. ModSCO is a web application based on a Reduced Order grey-box Model (ROM) able to systematically quantify the energy savings achieved through Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) utilising the schema of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP). The benefits of utilising ModSCO in terms of accuracy and time savings are demonstrated with a comparison with a whole building energy model developed with IES-VE.

Exploring the Black Box of Managing Total Rewards for Older Professionals in the Canadian Financial Services Sector

This study extends our knowledge about the management of older employees in the sector of financial services, which faces enormous transformational pressures (e.g., emergence of artificial intelligence, digital services). Based on the black box model of human resource management, we investigate how executives at 16 major financial institutions manage their total rewards to motivate their older professionals to stay at work longer. Top management’s views towards older professionals underlie a firm’s culture or climate, and more precisely, the extent of the perception that they are a strategic resource that needs focused management. Across firms, such adaptation (or lack thereof) is made through the following total rewards components: (1) flexibility in working time and place of work, (2) hiring of retirees, (3) hiring or promotion of older professionals, (4) role adjustment, (5) responsibilities and performance standards, (6) monetary rewards, benefits, and (7) recognition, succession planning, and support for retirement planning or preparation. The black box model should be used in future research to understand which reward components work best in which contextsto motivate older workers to stay at work longer.

ARX, ARMAX, Box-Jenkins, Output-Error, and Hammerstein Models for Modeling Intelligent Pneumatic Actuator (IPA) System

A pneumatic actuator is highly nonlinear, which makes the precise position control of this actuator difficult to achieve. In order to achieve precise control, selecting a suitable model structure is a prerequisite before control estimation. This selection of the model structure is based upon an understanding of the physical systems. In this paper, the black-box model is chosen as a system identification model for modeling position control of an Intelligent Pneumatic Actuator (IPA) system and a variety of parametric model structures. The parametric model structure, such as ARX, ARMAX, Box-Jenkins, output-error structures, and Hammerstein available in the black-box model, is used to assist in modeling the IPA system. The results indicate that Hammerstein had the best performance for modeling position control of the IPA system with the best fit 94.95. Also, the results show that ARX, ARMAX, Box-Jenkins, and output-error structures had best fit more than 90%.

Impact of the Atmospheric Photochemical Evolution of the Organic Component of Biomass Burning Aerosol on Its Radiative Forcing Efficiency: A Box Model Analysis

We present the first box model simulation results aimed at identification of possible effects of the atmospheric photochemical evolution of the organic component of biomass burning (BB) aerosol on the aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) and its efficiency (ARFE). The simulations of the dynamics of the optical characteristics of the organic aerosol (OA) were performed using a simple parameterization developed within the volatility basis set framework and adapted to simulate the multiday BB aerosol evolution in idealized isolated smoke plumes from Siberian fires (without dilution). Our results indicate that the aerosol optical depth can be used as a good proxy for studying the effect of the OA evolution on the ARF, but variations in the scattering and absorbing properties of BB aerosol can also affect its radiative effects, as evidenced by variations in the ARFE. Changes in the single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry factor, which occur as a result of the BB OA photochemical evolution, may either reduce or enhance the ARFE as a result of their competing effects, depending on the initial concentration OA, the ratio of black carbon to ОА mass concentrations and the aerosol photochemical age in a complex way. Our simulation results also reveal that (1) the ARFE at the top of the atmosphere is not significantly affected by the OA oxidation processes compared to the ARFE at the bottom of the atmosphere, and (2) the dependence of ARFE in the atmospheric column and on the BB aerosol photochemical ages almost mirrors the corresponding dependence of SSA.