Thermal adaptation in overheated residential buildings in severe cold area in China

The winter in the severe cold area of China is long and cold. The mean outdoor temperature is about-10. 0 ℃ during the winter in Harbin,while the indoor air temperature is often above24 ℃. How does the indoor environment influence human thermal comfort and adaptation in such an overheated environment?A combined approach of spot-reading measurements and occupant interview s w as adopted in nine residential buildings of five communities during the heating period in 2013-2014. Tw enty residents w ere chosen as respondents. Totally 308 valid questionnaires w ere collected. The heating periods w ere separated into three phases based on the outdoor temperature.The results show that the mean indoor air temperatures in theearly-,mid-and late-heating periods w ere 23. 6 ℃,24. 3 ℃and 25. 0 ℃,respectively,w hich w ere larger than or close to the upper limit recommended by thermal comfort standards, and slightly higher than the related thermal neutral temperatures. With the heating process,the mean clothing insulation of residents decreased. Opening w indow s and reducing clothing w ere mainly taken by the residents to adapt to the overheated environment.The thermal neutral temperature has an upw ard tendency w ith the increasing indoor air temperature. On the other hand,overheating in residential buildings w ould make residents open w indow s,w hich may cause thermal discomfort and energy w aste. Therefore,the low er limit of the comfort indoor air temperature range should be suggested as the heating temperature,w hich could fully arouse residents' adaptation and achieve sustainable building designs.

Experimental study on the effects of climatic characteristics on people's adaptability to thermal environment

In order to find out how the climatic characteristics affect people＇s adaptability to thermal environments,experimental studies in a climate chamber are conducted on the effects of transition seasons（from spring to summer）and the occupants＇ native areas on indoor thermal sensations.Results reveal that people＇s tolerances to cool and warm indoor environments are different in the transition season.When the outdoor temperature is higher,the occupants have a weaker tolerance to a cool indoor environment,but a stronger tolerance to a warm indoor environment.Besides,it is found that the occupants＇ thermal sensations depend on both the climatic characteristics of the season and their native areas.The people from southern China present a greater tolerance to both warm and cool indoor environments than those from northern China.The reason can be explained according to the occupants＇ adaptability to the climatic characteristics and the indoor thermal environments of their native areas in different climate zones.

Application of heat shock protein expression for detecting natural adaptation and exposure to stress in natural populations

Heat-shock proteins （HSPs） play an undisputed role for maintaining cellular functioning under environmental challenges and protein denaturing conditions. Compelling evidence points to an evolutionary important role of HSPs and a strict evolutionary control of these proteins as a balance between benefits and costs. While there is a great potential for using HSP expression for detecting natural adaptation and exposure to stress in natural populations, some obstacles and key issues await investigation. From an ecological perspective these key issues needs to be resolved in order to fully appreciate the complex responses and adaptations to stress and to increase our understanding of HSPs and other molecular chaperones for stress adaptation and potential use as biomarkers. Here, the current knowledge and understanding of HSPs is reviewed and a number of key issues including the interpretation of elevated HSP levels, the complications of extrapolating between laboratory and field conditions, the effects of choice of traits and methodology and the larger intra-and extracellular networks of interactions that HSPs participate in are discussed [Current Zoology 56 （6）： 703-713, 2010].

Adaptive Shape Control for Thermal Deformation of Membrane Mirror with In-plane PVDF Actuators

Optical membrane mirrors are promising key components for future space telescopes. Due to their ultra-thin and high flexible properties, the surfaces of these membrane mirrors are susceptible to temperature variations. Therefore adaptive shape control of the mirror is essential to maintain the surface precision and to ensure its working performance. However, researches on modeling and control of membrane mirrors under thermal loads are sparse in open literatures. A 0.2 m diameter scale model of a polyimide membrane mirror is developed in this study. Three Polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) patches are laminated on the non-reflective side of the membrane mirror to serve as in-plane actuators. A new mathematical model of the piezoelectric actuated membrane mirror in multiple fields,(i.e., thermal,mechanical, and electrical field) is established, with which dynamic and static behaviors of the mirror can be analyzed.A closed-loop membrane mirror shape control system is set up and a surface shape control method based on an influence function matrix of the mirror is then investigated. Several experiments including surface displacement tracking and thermal deformation alleviation are performed. The deviations range from 15 μm to 20 μm are eliminated within 0.1 s and the residual deformation is controlled to micron level, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed membrane shape control strategy and shows a satisfactory real-time performance. The proposed research provides a technological support and instruction for shape control of optical membrane mirrors.

Field study of seasonal thermal comfort and adaptive behavior for occupants in residential buildings of Xi’an,China

The study aims to investigate the thermal comfort requirements in residential buildings and to establish an adaptive thermal comfort model in the cold zone of China.A year-long field study was conducted in residential buildings in Xi’an,China.A total of 2069 valid questionnaires,along with indoor environmental parameters were obtained.The results indicated occupants’thermal comfort requirements varied with seasons.The neutral temperatures were 17.9,26.1(highest),25.2,and 17.4℃(lowest),and preferred temperatures were 23.2,25.6(highest),24.8,and 22.4℃(lowest),respectively for spring,summer,autumn,and winter.The neutral temperature and preferred temperature in autumn are close to the neutral temperature in summer,while the neutral temperature and preferred temperature in spring are close to that in winter.Besides,the 80%and 90%acceptable temperature ranges,adaptive thermal comfort models,and thermal comfort zones for each season were established.Human’s adaptability is related to his/her thermal experience of the current season and the previous season.Therefore,compared with the traditional year-round adaptive thermal comfort model,seasonal models can better reflect seasonal variations of human adaptation.This study provides fundamental knowledge of the thermal comfort demand for people in this region.

Indoor Human Detection Based on Thermal Array Sensor Data and Adaptive Background Estimation

Low Resolution Thermal Array Sensors are widely used in several applications in indoor environments. In particular, one of these cheap, small and unobtrusive sensors provides a low-resolution thermal image of the environment and, unlike cameras;it is capable to detect human heat emission even in dark rooms. The obtained thermal data can be used to monitor older seniors while they are performing daily activities at home, to detect critical situations such as falls. Most of the studies in activity recognition using Thermal Array Sensors require human detection techniques to recognize humans passing in the sensor field of view. This paper aims to improve the accuracy of the algorithms used so far by considering the temperature environment variation. This method leverages an adaptive background estimation and a noise removal technique based on Kalman Filter. In order to properly validate the system, a novel installation of a single sensor has been implemented in a smart environment: the obtained results show an improvement in human detection accuracy with respect to the state of the art, especially in case of disturbed environments.

Adaptive FEM Analysis of the Temperature Field of Pistons in Diesel Engines and Their Thermal Stress and Deformation Calculation

The adaptive FEM analysis of the temperature field of the piston in one diesel engine is given by using the ANSYS software. By making full use of the post results provided by the software, the posteriori error estimation and adaptive accuracy meshing algorithm is developed. So the blindness of the mesh design through experiences can be avoided, and the accuracy requirement is adapted to the relative temperature gradient distribution across the entire domain. Therefore the meshes and solutions can be obtained at the same time. Based on the temperature field analysis, the thermal stress and deformation fields are calculated as well. The results show that the stress concentrates on the edge of the piston pin boss and the inside surface of the first ring groove, and the deformation of the head of the piston is greatest. But the difference between the long and short axes of the bottom cross section is greatest.

Climate adaptive thermal characteristics of envelope of residential passive house in China

Passive house has been constructed in China on a large-scale over the past couple years for its great energy saving potential.However,research indicates that there is a significant discrepancy in energy performance for heating and cooling between passive houses in different climate zones.Therefore,this research develops a comparative analysis on the energy saving potential of passive houses with the conventional around China.A sensitivity analysis of thermal characteristics of building envelope(insulation of exterior walls and windows,and airtightness)on energy consumption is further carried out to improve the climate adaptability of passive house.Moreover,the variation of energy consumption under different heat gain intensity is also compared,to evaluate the effects of envelope thermal characteristics comprehensively.Results suggest that the decrease of exterior wall insulation leads to the greatest increase in energy consumption,especially in severe cold zone in China.However,the optimal insulation may change with the internal heat gain intensity,for instance,the decrease of insulation(from 0.4 to 1.0 W/(m^(2)·K))could reduce the energy consumption by 4.65 kW·h/(m^(2)·a)when the heat gain increases to 20 W/m^(2)for buildings in Hot Summer and Cold Winter zone in China.

Principles and practices of the photo-thermal adaptability improvement in soybean

As a short-day(SD)and thermophilic plant,soybean(Glycine max(L.)Merr.)is sensitive to photo-thermal conditions.This characteristic severely limits the cultivation range of a given soybean cultivar and affects the performances of agronomic traits such as yield,plant architectures,and seed quality.Therefore,understanding the mechanism of photo-thermal sensitivity will provide a theoretical basis for soybean improvement.In this review,we introduce the advances in physiological,genetic,and molecular researches in photoperiodism of soybean,and progress in the improvement of the photo-thermal adaptability.We also summarize the photo-thermal conditions and characteristics of widely-planted soybean cultivars of major production regions in China.Furthermore,we proposed a novel concept of‘ecotyping’and the strategies for widely-adapted soybean cultivar breeding.This review provides an important guide for improving the adaptability of soybean.

Design and analysis of an advanced thermal management system for the solar close observations and proximity experiments spacecraft

In this paper,the mission and the thermal environment of the Solar Close Observations and Proximity Experiments(SCOPE)spacecraft are analyzed,and an advanced thermal management system(ATMS)is designed for it.The relationship and functions of the integrated database,the intelligent thermal control system and the efficient liquid cooling system in the ATMS are elaborated upon.For the complex thermal field regulation system and extreme space thermal environment,a modular simulation and thermal field planning method are proposed,and the feasibility of the planning algorithm is verified by numerical simulation.A solar array liquid cooling system is developed,and the system simulation results indicate that the temperatures of the solar arrays meet the requirements as the spacecraft flies by perihelion and aphelion.The advanced thermal management study supports the development of the SCOPE program and provides a reference for the thermal management in other deep-space exploration programs.

Extreme Adaptation to Extreme Environments in Hot Dry, Hot Sub-humid and Hot Humid Climates in Mexico

The paper discusses the results of a field study carried out in four cities in Mexico： Hermosillo, Mexicali, Merida and Colima, during the warmest seasons of 2006-2007. The survey is according to the adaptive approach of thermal comfort. The cities＇ climates are hot dry, hot sub-humid and hot humid. The respondents were inhabitants of low cost housings without air conditioning. The research was performed during warm seasons and according to ISO 10551. The measurements were processed by the common method of linear regression and also by alternative methods, useful for asymmetric climates. Individuals declared comfort at very high temperatures, either high or low humidity, therefore, the resulting neutral temperatures are higher than 30 ℃, except in Colima （28.8 ℃）. The upper limits of comfort ranges achieved temperatures up to 35 ℃. The results suggest how great is the capacity of humans to adapt to conditions as extreme as those measured in the study.

Neuropeptide signaling systems are involved in regulating thermal tolerance in the oriental fruit fly

Neuropeptides and their receptors are involved in the regulation and coordination of various physiological processes in insects.Although various neuropeptides have been identified previously,the corresponding receptors remain unknown in the oriental fruit fly,Bactrocera dorsalis,an important agricultural insect pest.It is also unclear whether neuropeptide signaling systems are involved in regulating the thermal tolerance of this notorious pest.Here,we systematically identified 44 putative neuropeptide receptor genes which encode 66 protein sequences,and analyzed the spatio-temporal expression patterns of the neuropeptide ligands and their receptor genes in B.dorsalis.We also analyzed changes in their transcript accumulation in two thermo-tolerant populations(heat and cold)of B.dorsalis.The results showed that numerous neuropeptides and receptors participate in responding to thermal stresses during acclimation.In particular,the expression of short neuropeptide F(sNPF)was up-regulated in the heat-tolerant population of B.dorsalis.Moreover,proteomic data showed that sNPF was up-regulated in both thermo-tolerant populations of B.dorsalis.The functional verification based on CRISPR/Cas9 demonstrated that sNPF is involved in regulating the tolerance to thermal stresses.The results of this study enrich our knowledge on the function of neuropeptide sNPF in insects.Moreover,this study demonstrated the role of neuropeptide signaling systems in thermal adaptation,contributing to a better understanding of the rapid invasiveness of B.dorsalis around the world.

Flexible,thermal processable,self-healing,and fully bio-based starch plastics by constructing dynamic imine network

The serious environmental threat caused by petroleum-based plastics has spurred more researches in developing substitutes from renewable sources.Starch is desirable for fabricating bioplastic due to its abundance and renewable nature.However,limitations such as brittleness,hydrophilicity,and thermal properties restrict its widespread application.To overcome these issues,covalent adaptable network was constructed to fabricate a fully bio-based starch plastic with multiple advantages via Schiff base reactions.This strategy endowed starch plastic with excellent thermal processability,as evidenced by a low glass transition temperature(T_(g)=20.15℃).Through introducing Priamine with long carbon chains,the starch plastic demonstrated superior flexibility(elongation at break=45.2%)and waterproof capability(water contact angle=109.2°).Besides,it possessed a good thermal stability and self-adaptability,as well as solvent resistance and chemical degradability.This work provides a promising method to fabricate fully bio-based plastics as alternative to petroleum-based plastics.

THE SEMI-GEOSTROPHIC ADAPTATION PROCESS WITH TWO-LAYER BAROCLINIC MODEL IN LOW LATITUDE ATMOSPHERE

In this paper, the adaptation process in low latitude atmosphere is discussed by means of a two-layer baroclinic model on the equator b plane, showing that the adaptation process in low latitude is mainly dominated by the internal inertial gravity waves. The initial ageostrophic energy is dispersed by the internal inertial gravity waves, and as a result, the geostrophic motion is obtained in zonal direction while the ageostro-phic motion maintains in meridional direction, which can be called semi-geostrophic balance in barotropic model as well as semi-thermal-wind balance in baroclinic model. The vertical motion is determined both by the distribution of the initial vertical motion and that of the initial vertical motion tendency, but it is unrelated to the initial potential vorticity. Finally, the motion tends to be horizontal. The discussion of the physical mecha-nism of the semi-thermal-wind balance in low latitude atmosphere shows that the achievement of the semi-thermal-wind balance is due to the adjustment between the stream field and the temperature field through the horizontal convergence and divergence which is related to the vertical motion excited by the internal inertial gravity waves. The terminal adaptation state obtained shows that the adaptation direction between the mean temperature field and the shear flow field is determined by the ratio of the scale of the initial ageostrophic dis-turbance to the scale of one character scale related to the baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation. The shear stream field adapts to the mean temperature field when the ratio is greater than 1, and the mean temperature field adapts to the shear stream field when the ratio is smaller than 1.

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System for Thermal Field Evaluation of Underground Cable System

The influence of thermal circuit parameters on a buried underground cable is investigated using an ANFIS （adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system）. Finite element solution of the heat conduction equation is used, combined with artificial intelligence methods. The cable temperature depends on several parameters, such as the ambient temperature, the currents flowing through the conductor and the resistivity of the surrounding soil. In this paper, ANFIS is used to simulate the problem of the thermal field of underground cables under various parameters variation and climatic conditions. The developed model was trained using data generated from FEM （finite element method） for different configurations （training set） of the thermal field problem. After training, the system is tested for several scenarios, differing significantly from the training cases. It is shown that the proposed method is very time efficient and accurate in calculating the thermal fields compared to the relatively time consuming finite element method; thus ANFIS provides a potential computationally efficient and inexpensive predictive tool for more effective thermal design of underground cable systems.

Thermal stability test and analysis of a 20-actuator bimorph deformable mirror

One of the important characteristic of adaptive mirrors is the thermal stability of surface flatness. In this paper, the thermal stability from 13℃ to 25℃ of a 20-actuator bimorph deformable mirror is tested by a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Experimental results show that, the surface P-V of bimorph increases nearly linearly with ambient temperature. The ratio is 0.11 μm/℃ and the major component of surface displacement is defocused, compared with which, astigmatism, coma and spherical aberration contribute very small. Besides, a finite element model is built up to analyse the influence of thickness, thermal expansion coefficient and Young＇s modulus of materials on thermal stability. Calculated results show that bimorph has the best thermal stability when the materials have the same thermal expansion coefficient. And when the thickness ratio of glass to PZT is 3 and Young＇s modulus ratio is approximately 0.4, the surface instability behaviour of the bimorph manifests itself most severely.

An Approach to Human Adaptability towards its Built Environment: A Review

This paper deals with the human adaptability to its built environment. The built environment as we know it rarely finds itself adapting to its surrounding context, whether it be on the level of interaction with humans or the climate. Humans and nature both are in a constant state of flux;moving, changing, sensing, and reacting to their context and information they gather and perceive. A barrier is formed between the built environment and humans and nature due to the fact that their inherent characteristics are utterly contrasting. It is commonly estimated that persons in urban areas spend at least 80% of their time indoors. This suggests that the quality of the indoor environment can have a significant impact on comfort, health, and overall sense of well being. The indoor environment of buildings should thus be designed and controlled, as to provide a comfortable and healthy space for occupants. In order to maintain the quality of the indoor environment, we mechanically condition our buildings to achieve constant, uniform and comfortable environments. The maintenance of thermal equilibrium between the human body and its environment is one of the primary requirements. History of thermal comfort and climate design shows a definite relation between them and research is needed to know “What are comfort conditions?” and “How buildings could adapt themselves to these conditions”.

Thermal Comfort in Waiting Room at Railway Station in Cold Region in China

A field study and analysis about the thermal comfort was carried out in the waiting room at Beijing West Rail Station in Chinese cold region.Passengers' TSV(thermal sense vote)was obtained using statistical method on the basis of more than 1 200 questionnaires.The linear regression between TSV and indoor temperature indicates that thermal neutral temperature is 25.2 ℃.According to the percentage of satisfaction among all passengers under different indoor temperatures,the acceptable temperature range in the waiting room is 24.2～30.2℃.It is also found that passengers' temporary stay should be taken into consideration for the thermal comfort analysis.Passengers' TSV is not a constant value after they enter the waiting room.In fact,ΔTSV increases as passengers are waiting for the train,and the growing rate is dependent on indoor-outdoor temperature difference.The greater the temperature difference,the faster ΔTSV increases.At last,a linear regression between indoor comfortable temperature and outdoor temperature was generated as the adaptive comfort model.

Field study on thermal comfort of naturally ventilated residences in southwest China

Kunming,a city in southwest China,has a climate that is different from most of the other places in the world because of its unique geographical characteristics.Due to its temperate climate,most of the residential buildings in this region are naturally ventilated.Accordingly,a winter thermal comfort study was conducted in Kunming to reveal the thermal response of residents.Indoor and outdoor environmental parameters were measured,and participants were investigated about their clothing,thermal sensations,thermal preferences,and thermal acceptance using online questionnaires.Data from 162 valid questionnaires were collected in the survey.Although the climate is referred to as“mild”,the survey showed that the indoor temperature during winter was lower than the typical comfort range.Nevertheless,the participants responded that most of them felt neutral and comfortable.The neutral temperature of participants living in Kunming was determined to be 16.96℃.The acceptable thermal sensation vote(TSV)range of the residents is-0.72 to 1.52.The acceptable indoor air temperature range is 15.03℃ to 19.55℃,and the optimum indoor air temperature is 17.2℃.According to this study,the existing thermal comfort evaluation models can hardly predict residents’thermal responses in Kunming well.

Research on the Winter Thermal Comfort of Library's Atrium Reading Space in Harbin Universities

As a transition space,atrium not only organizes traffic,makes the flow line flexible,but also modulates the indoor micro-climate. Because of its good sense of space and lighting performance,designers generally set reading space around the atrium. But nowadays,people are more concerned with the external form of the architecture,rather than the thermal comfort conditions of the atrium reading space. This article chooses the universities' library atrium space of Harbin in typical city in cold regions as the carrier of research,testes the thermal environment of atrium reading space, analyzes the user 's subjective feelings of the thermal environment and establishes climate adaptation model applied to library buildings. This paper aims to study on Winter thermal comfort of universities' library atrium reading space in cold area. Bases on thermal comfort adaptive model,it establishes a reasonable heating methods and design temperature index of indoor thermal environment. Optimum comfort is obtained while achieving building energy efficiency and providing viewers a comfortable reading space.