Selection of Energy Upgrades for Canadian Single-Detached Residential Households Based on Occupancy Profile

The use of energy efficient building systems can play a key role in reducing energy consumption and the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. The occupancy profile of residential dwellings has a notable influence on the effectiveness of selecting appropriate energy upgrade retrofits. Building simulation models can be integrated to determine the impact of independent occupancy profile in realizing a building’s carbon mitigation target. In this paper, the most desirable energy upgrade retrofits are suggested for three different occupancy profiles by considering important economic parameters, such as the initial investment, payback period and environmental parameter such as GHG emissions. The three occupancy profiles considered were a single adult, couple without children and couple with children. For this purpose, a calibrated energy model was developed for a single-detached family household in British Columbia, Canada, which was equipped with power sensors for monitoring the real time energy data. From the calibrated energy model, three different energy upgrade retrofits (solar, window, and wall/roof insulation) were modelled for the occupancy profiles chosen and the most suitable energy upgrades were suggested. The results show that solar panels contributed the most in energy cost reduction and upgraded windows had the least GHG emission. With suitable financial initiative, the combination of all the three energy upgrades can be the best option in terms of environment and economy.

The Arabidopsis histone demethylase JMJ28 regulates CONSTANS by interacting with FBH transcription factors

Arabidopsis thaliana CONSTANS (CO) is an essential transcription factor that promotes flowering by activating the expression of the floral integrator FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). A number of histone modification enzymes involved in the regulation of flowering have been identified, but the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the regulation of the core flowering regulator CO remains unclear. Previous studies have indicated that the transcription factors, FLOWERING BHLH1 (FBH1), FBH2, FBH3 and FBH4, function redundantly to activate the expression of CO. In this study, we found that the KDM3 group H3K9 demethylase JMJ28 interacts with the FBH transcription factors to activate CO by removing the repressive mark H3K9me2. The occupancy of JMJ28 on the CO locus is decreased in the fbh quadruple mutant, suggesting that the binding of JMJ28 is depend on FBHs. Furthermore, genome-wide occupancy profile analyses indicate that the binding of JMJ28 to the genome overlaps with that of FBH3, indicating a functional association of JMJ28 and FBH3. Together, these results indicate that Arabidopsis JMJ28 functions as a CO activator by interacting with the FBH transcription factors to remove H3K9me2 from the CO locus.

Equilibrium fluctuations in maximally noisy extended quantum systems

We introduce and study a class of models of free fermions hopping between neighbouring sites with random Brownian amplitudes. These simple models describe stochastic, diffusive, quantum, unitary dynamics. We focus on periodic boundary conditions and derive the complete stationary distribution of the system. It is proven that the generating function of the latter is provided by an integral with respect to the unitary Haar measure, known as the Harish-Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber integral in random matrix theory, which allows us to access all fluctuations of the system state. The steady state is characterized by non trivial correlations which have a topological nature. Diagrammatic tools appropriate for the study of these correlations are presented. In the thermodynamic large system size limit, the system approaches a non random, self averaging, equilibrium state plus occupancy and coherence fluctuations of magnitude scaling proportionally with the inverse of the square root of the volume. The large deviation function for those fluctuations is determined. Although decoherence is effective on the mean steady state, we observe that sub-leading fluctuating coherences are dynamically produced from the inhomogeneities of the initial occupancy profile.

Model predictive control of room temperature with disturbance compensation

This paper deals with temperature control of multivariable system of office building. The system is simplified to several single input-single output systems by decoupling their mutual linkages, which are separately controlled by regulator based on generalized model predictive control. Main part of this paper focuses on the accuracy of the office temperature with respect to occupancy profile and effect of disturbance. Shifting of desired temperature and changing of weighting coefficients are used to achieve the desired accuracy of regulation. The final structure of regulation joins advantages of distributed computing power and possibility to use network communication between individual controllers to consider the constraints. The advantage of using decoupled MPC controllers compared to conventional PID regulators is demonstrated in a simulation study.

Evidence that Mediator is essential for Pol II transcription, but is not a required component of the preinitiation complex in vivo

The Mediator complex has been described as a general transcription factor, but it is unclear if it is essential for Pol II transcription and/or is a required component of the preinitiation complex (PIC) in vivo. Here, we show that depletion of individual subunits, even those essential for cell growth, causes a general but only modest decrease in transcription. In contrast, simultaneous depletion of all Mediator modules causes a drastic decrease in transcription. Depletion of head or middle subunits, but not tail subunits, causes a downstream shift in the Pol II occupancy profile, suggesting that Mediator at the core promoter inhibits promoter escape. Interestingly, a functional PIC and Pol II transcription can occur when Mediator is not detected at core promoters. These results provide strong evidence that Mediator is essential for Pol II transcription and stimulates PIC formation, but it is not a required component of the PIC in vivo.