Search

Funding Information: This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China ( 2019YFE0126100 ); National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 61605173 ) and ( 61403346 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Optimizing the traffic flow prediction system is crucial in developing intelligent transportation since it increases the road network's capacity. The system's overall prediction accuracy will be increased by taking into account the relationship between the temporal and spatial properties of the road network and different external elements affecting the traffic situation. The traffic state, which is still a largely unexplored area, is impacted by the complicated interaction between accident information and the spatiotemporal properties of the route. This paper proposes an Accident Information Graph Fusion Attention Convolutional Network(AI-GFACN). Firstly, a highly correlated global road network is created using a global spatial feature point-edge swapping method, a D–D algorithm fusing Dijkstra, and Depth-First Search, which resolves the issue where the spatial features of accident sections are challenging to capture the diffusion effects caused by spatial features of nearby and further sections. Following the data's incorporation, it is suggested to combine the Spatio-temporal features of accident information and embed them in the road network. In addition, an attention mechanism is introduced, effectively addressing the difficulty in capturing the Spatio-temporal features of accident information within the road network. By integrating and categorizing the regionally distributed and temporally sustained congestion effects of various categories of accidents concerning previous research on accident information, this paper enhances the semantic expressiveness of accident information within the road network. Ablation experiments confirm the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method, and it is applied to the dataset of Hangzhou West Lake District (including accident information), which increases short-term traffic speed prediction accuracy by 0.2% overall.

Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFA0705502 , 2019YFA0705501 ), the Young and Middle-aged Excellent Team Project for Scientific and Technological Innovation of Jilin Province , China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 42202345 ), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41972324 , 52074212 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd In this study, a temperature optimization strategy for the Huadian oil shale autothermal pyrolysis in-situ conversion process (ATS) was first proposed by systematically investigating the reaction characteristics of various semi-cokes. As the pyrolysis temperature rised, the semi-coke's calorific value was found to undergo three different stages of increasing, decreasing, and flattening, peaking at around 330 °C. Additionally, the semi-cokes formed at different temperatures exhibited similar combustion characteristics, including combustion activation energy, combustion characteristic parameters, and product release characteristics. Due to the serious pore blockage caused by the substantial generation and the ignition coking of the bitumen, the reaction characteristics of semi-cokes were dramatically decreased at about 330 °C. Finally, the relationship between in-situ heat generation and demand at various stages of ATS process was discussed, and a reasonable strategy for the screening of temperature parameters was proposed. According to this strategy, the optimal control temperature for the preheating stage was determined at 350–370 °C and at Tact (defined in 4.3.2) for the retorting zone in the reaction stage. The results of this study provide a new perspective on the theoretical foundation of the ATS process and have crucial guiding implications for practical engineering applications.

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Xing Xu et al. In response to the problem that the detection precision of the current 3D object detection algorithm is low when the object is severely occluded, this study proposes an object detection algorithm based on the reconstruction of sparse point clouds in the viewing frustum. The algorithm obtains more local feature information of the sparse point clouds in the viewing frustum through dimensional expansion, performs the fusion of local and global feature information of the point cloud data to obtain point cloud data with more complete semantic information, and then applies the obtained data to the 3D object detection task. The experimental results show that the precision of object detection in both 3D view and BEV (Bird's Eye View) can be improved effectively through the algorithm, especially object detection of moderate and hard levels when the object is severely occluded. In the 3D view, the average precision of the 3D detection of cars, pedestrians, and cyclists at a moderate level can be increased by 7.1p.p., 16.39p.p., and 5.42p.p., respectively; in BEV, the average precision of the 3D detection of car, pedestrians, and cyclists at hard level can be increased by 6.51p.p., 16.57p.p., and 7.18p.p., respectively, thus indicating the effectiveness of the algorithm.

The article presents experimental studies of typical Finnish highly insulated (HI) envelopes with thermal resistance values ( R value) for the wall and roof inside the ventilation cavity between 7.7 and 8.1 m2K/W and 13 m2K/W, respectively. The conditions in the ventilation cavities were studied by using typical and increased R values for the exterior part of the cavity, which were 0.18 m2K/W and 1.57 m2K/W in the walls, and 0.13 m2K/W and 2.13 m2K/W for the roof. With higher exterior R values of 1.57 m2K/W and 2.13 m2K/W, the cavity temperature increased only after closing the inlet gap of the cavities. If the cavity inlet was closed, the restriction of the outlet gap from 20–25 mm to 10 mm had no significant effect on the temperatures. A closed ventilation inlet resulted in increased absolute humidity in the cavity, which indicates that the restriction of cavity ventilation should be made with care to avoid impairing the drying-out ability. The computational analysis showed that the optimal air change rates in the wall and roof cavities of HI structures were 4–40 1/h and 20 1/h, respectively. The conventional 22-mm-thick wood cladding enables safe cavity conditions in HI walls if the vapor barrier is vapor tight and other moisture sources are low. A lower heat flux and additional heat loss caused by cloudless sky at night support the observation that HI roofs have a higher moisture risk. In HI roofs, a conventional exterior R value of 0.13 m2K/W should at least be increased to the range of 0.3–0.4 m2K/W, which is achieved, for example, by a 20-mm-thick mineral wool board under the roofing. The use of mold-resistant materials in the ventilation cavity is recommended to mitigate the possible ramifications of the moisture behavior of HI roofs.

Thermal treatment offers an alternative method for the separation of Al foil and cathode materials during spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) recycling. In this work, the pyrolysis behavior of cathode from spent LIBs was investigated using advanced thermogravimetric Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (TG-FTIR-GC/MS) method. The fate of fluorine present in spent batteries was probed as well. TG analysis showed that the cathode decomposition displayed a three-stage process. The temperatures of maximum mass loss rate were located at 470 °C and 599 °C, respectively. FTIR analysis revealed that the release of CO2 increased as the temperature rose from 195 to 928 °C. However, the evolution of H2O showed a decreasing trend when the temperature increased to above 599 °C. The release of fluoride derivatives also exhibited a decreasing trend, and they were not detected after temperatures increasing to above 470 °C. GC-MS analysis indicated that the release of H2O and CO displayed a similar trend, with larger releasing intensity at the first two stages. The evolution of 1,4-difluorobenzene and 1,3,5-trifluorobenzene also displayed a similar trend—larger releasing intensity at the first two stages. However, the release of CO2 showed a different trend, with the largest release intensity at the third stage, as did the release of 1,2,4-trifluorobenzene, with the release mainly focused at the temperature of 300–400 °C. The release intensities of 1,2,4-trifluorobenzene and 1,3,5-trifluorobenzene were comparable, although smaller than that of 1,4-difluorobenzene. This study will offer practical support for the large-scale recycling of spent LIBs.

Funding Information: This research was supported by the Academy of Finland (STARCLUB, Grant No. 324023 , CleanSchool, Grant No. 330150 , and Project Catalyst Screening And Its Mechanism In The Molten Salt Pyrolysis of PUR , Grant No. 331682 ) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41972324 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors Investigating indoor humidity is important because abnormal moisture levels can damage building structures and result in poor indoor air quality. Outdoor humidity, ventilation rate, and internal moisture load are the three dominant factors affecting indoor humidity. State-of-the-art methods, particularly full-scale field studies for determining these three factors and indoor humidity can be both time consuming and labor intensive. This study proposes a radically new methodology to effectively model the influence of these three factors on indoor humidity for a mechanically ventilated building/space. The methodology starts with a simple linear regression (SLR) constructed by measuring indoor and outdoor humidity and then hybrids a novel analytical approach that accurately predicts the impact of ventilation rate and internal moisture load on indoor humidity. The proposed upgraded SLR model was successfully validated with high accuracy by both experiments and numerical simulations using TRNSYS commercial software. The results demonstrate the ability of the developed SLR to accurately model indoor humidity and account for the moisture exchange between indoor air and building structures/furnishings. Inferring these relationships and their influences on indoor humidity presents a challenging task. The developed model is generic and unique and supports fast and inexpensive field studies by ensuring that the measurements of indoor and outdoor humidity are sufficient to derive field tests of the impacts of outdoor humidity, ventilation rate, and internal moisture loads on indoor humidity. The proposed model can be further developed as a standardized moisture assessment tool for benchmarking building performance.

Funding Information: We thank the private foundation Kuortane Sports Institute, particularly Mr. Jaakko Niiranen, for providing us the measurement data and other valuable information. This study is financed by the Academy of Finland (STARCLUB with grant No. 324023 and CleanSchool with grant No. 330150). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s) This research conducts a technical and economic feasibility study of multi-energy hybrid systems (MEHS) combining different renewables for a northern climate city of Finland to address issues of replacing fossil energy by renewable energy sources (RES) to achieve zero carbon emissions. The renewable energy systems MEHS include geothermal, biomass and solar energy. The selected city-study site is the Olympic Training Center occupied by heterogeneous buildings which presents a good representative urban city for the assessment of the energy supply and demand. A generic and integrated modeling framework grounded in a combination of novel forecasting models for the heterogeneous building energy demands, the splitting of space heating and hot water use, the coupled renewable energy generation, and the time series electricity market is developed to investigate optimal MEHS configurations based on the technical and financial analysis. Innovative scenarios of MEHS are developed. The analysis results show that MEHS canflexibly meet the energy demand for the heterogeneous buildings and the optimal configurations can be realised by an innovative integration of geothermal and solar sources as well as electricity as complementary energy. Model uncertainty and its impacts on the analysis are also considered and discussed. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Waste-printed circuit boards (WPCBs) account for approximately 3–6 wt% of total electronic waste. Due to their content of thermosetting materials and added brominated fire retardants, their recycling and disposal is difficult and not eco-friendly. Pyrolysis as a thermal degradation process may assist in the solution of this problem. In addition, using biomass as an additive can upgrade the bio-oil and fix bromines in the char. In this study, cotton stalk (CS) is chosen as an additive and kinetic of the pyrolysis of three samples namely: PCB, CS, and CS:PCB (50:50) were investigated by the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) at heating rates of 5, 10, and 15 K/min. Three non-isothermal methods: FWO, KAS, and Starink were found in good agreement with the TGA data; however, the FWO method was more efficient in the description of the degradation mechanism of solid-state reactions. For CS and CS:PCB (50:50), α was increased from 0.2 to 0.9 with the FWO method, and calculated Eα values were found in the range of 121.43–151.88 and 151.60–105.67 kJ/mol in zone 1, while 197.06–79.22 and 115.90–275.06 kJ/mol in zone 2, respectively. Whereas, for PCB in zone 1, Eα values were found to be in the range of 190.23–93.88 kJ/mol. The possible decomposition mechanism was determined by the Criado method, which was in agreement with the mechanism model for reaction order n = 3. The oil product was also analyzed using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis.

Funding Information: Acknowledgments: In the course of this experiment, it was supported by the pilot experimental base for in-situ pyrolysis of Fuyu oil shale, Jilin University. The authors also express their appreciation to technical reviewers for their constructive comments. Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, grant number 2021QN1002” and “China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, grant number 2021M693421” and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41972324). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. In this paper, the effect of heat injection on productivity of Fuyu oil shale during in-situ pyrolysis was studied by using heat flow coupling analysis method. It is found that fluid conducts heat transmission to the oil shale stratum mainly along the fissure formed by hydraulic fracturing. With the increase of heating time, the oil shale on both sides of fissures were effectively pyrolyzed, and the porosity of the formation increases and the diffusion range of the nitrogen to the oil shale stratum is also improved. After 200 days, the oil shale around the fractures first reaches the pyrolysis temperature, and 700 days later, the average temperature of the oil shale stratum reaches 500◦C; therefore, the whole oil shale can be effectively pyrolyzed. Productivity analysis shows that the best exploitation temperature is 500◦C. When the gas injection rate is in the range of 1.0~11.0 m3/min, different degrees of heat loss will occur, and the output is also different. The pyrolysis time reaches 100~150 days, showing the peak value of daily production, which is between 0.5~3.2 m3/day. The pressure of displacement fluid affects oil shale product recovery in in-situ pyrolysis. High pressure helps to improve the displacement efficiency of oil and gas products and increase the productivity of oil shale in-situ pyrolysis. The best acting pressure is 9.5 MPa.

Funding Information: Video materials and floor maps were provided by Aiforsite Oy, which is much appreciated. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received throughout STARCLUB Project (Grant No. 324023 ) from the Academy of Finland. The authors would also like to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41972324 ) for its partial support for this research. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved. Path alignment is the process of mapping an indoor construction inspection path reconstructed by a visual SLAM system onto a 2D map with user interaction required to pinpoint at least two common tie points. In practice, more points are often needed due to path distortions and linear transformations, potentially resulting in reduced productivity. This paper proposes a methodology that combines two novel algorithms for the path alignment: (1) PCA_STAN_ALGO applies principal component analysis to remove path distortions caused by the xz plane of a camera coordinate system not being parallel to the floor plane; and (2) GRPX_TRANS utilizes a graphical user interface to facilitate the path alignment. The proposed methodology enables the users to utilize just two tie points for successful path alignment. An experimental study showed that applying both PCA_STAN_ALGO and GRPX_TRANS saved about 50% in time compared to using only GRPX_TRANS, a result of needing minimal moving points.

Providing cellular network services inside residential or office buildings has become challenging, especially for fifth-generation networks that use higher carrier frequencies. Additionally, new energy-efficient buildings contain envelopes such as low-emissivity glass and new multi-layer thermal insulations, all of which - unintendedly but effectively - also block radio signals. As a solution to those problems of indoor coverage, we suggest the use of passive antenna systems embedded into the building walls. We propose a numerical evaluation method for determining the electromagnetic transmission coefficient and the thermal insulation of a typical building wall. Next, we investigate two antenna configurations embedded to the wall, a two-patch and a four-patch design, both operating around 3.5 GHz. We show from numerical simulations that those antenna systems increase the transmission coefficient of the wall. At the same time, we show that the four-patch design does not compromise the thermal insulation of thewall.

Energy consumption in buildings accounts for over 30% of the total energy use in the world, so it is a priority in the EU. Phase change materials (PCMs) can assist for thermal regulation, because they can save and release the heat. In smart buildings, consumers can incorporate in managing building energy systems, by Demand Response Programs (DRPs). One applicable method is to include PCM as interior coating. Two groups of tests in a test house are investigated concerning: (i) a case in which a PCM is introduced in the mortar; (ii) a base case in that a regular mortar is considered. The two cases are subjected to simulate real temperature variation (summer and winter scenarios). Temperature difference of the "measurement point" showed that the heating/cooling system is turning on for a total of 7.83h under winter scenario for the base case, whereas the PCM case allowed a decrease in the heating time to 7.75h, which represents a 1.1% saving alone. In the case of summer scenario, the heating/cooling system is turning on for 5.5h per day in the base case, whereas the PCM case allowed a decrease in the heating time to 5h, which illustrates a 10% saving alone.

This paper presents a new methodology that takes a physical-statistical approach to dynamically model indoor air humidity and moisture transport in building structures. A new concept, structural dynamics moisture buffer capacity (SDMBC), is introduced that improves on the most commonly used moisture buffer measure. The paper proposes and experimentally proves several novel hypotheses regarding the linear relationship between model variables, great simplifying the derivation of the model equations. The resulting dynamic model is simple, efficient, and easy-to-implement. Furthermore, full-scale experiments using three identical wooden test houses were built to support the development of the dynamic model. Airflow rates were calibrated and verified by experiment. The results of this study establish the practicality of this new modeling methodology which can aid researchers in constructing improved simulation models and designers in selecting building materials to optimize indoor humidity, minimize energy consumption, and provide good indoor environmental quality.

To rapidly produce oil, downhole heating technology requires an electric heater, which is limited by the diameter of the heat injection well, with long-term working stability and high-efficiency heat transfer. Simulations indicated that heater with continuous helical baffles is more suitable for downhole heating technology than heater with segmental baffles in terms of long-term working stability. Then, experiments were conducted on four continuous helical schemes with pitches of 50, 110, 160, and 210 mm. The test results showed that, in the test scope, the heater with the helical pitch of 110 mm (H110) had the best comprehensive performance, which was 2.95–3.75 times better than that of the heater with the helical pitch of 210 mm (H210). Under the same working conditions, heaters with smaller helical pitch values produce less irreversibility in the heat transfer process. In addition, the heaters with helical pitch values of 110, 160, and 210 mm were more effective at a lower Reynolds number, whereas the heater with the helical pitch of 50 mm could be used under a wide effective range of Reynolds numbers. The conclusions are benefit to setting the heating parameters of electric heater during the process of oil shale in-situ pyrolysis.

The rapid development of industry, automobiles and manufacturing has emitted an ever-growth amount of the atmospheric gas pollutants to the atmosphere, such as nitric oxide (NO x ), sulfur oxide (SO x ), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and particle matters (PM). NO is deemed as one critical air pollutant as it is the leading origins of several environmental issues, such as the acidic rain, haze, and photochemical smog. To eliminate its environmental risk, it is highly desired to develop one effective, cost-effective and environmental-friendly technology to detect, regulate and remove them. Till now, various technologies have been developed, including the selective physical/chemical adsorption, heterogeneous catalytic reduction/oxidation and photocatalysis, to show high efficiency in separation, conversion and detoxification of NO. Among them, photocatalysis is receiving an ever-increased attention by its high efficiency, low cost and green feature (this technology enables the direct utilization of solar light to trigger the generation of highly active oxidative free radicals for pollutant degradation and mineralization). In the development of photocatalytic technology, the core part is the design and synthesis of highly effective and durable photocatalyst. Plasmonic metal with a unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) feature have now emerged as one appealing class of photocatalysts with wide applications in environmental remediation and energy conversion. In the plasmonic metal-directed photocatalysis, the surface electrons of plasmonic metal oscillate resonated with the incident photon, giving rise to the generation of hot carriers for catalytic redox reactions. However, most of the current LSPR-directed photocatalysis is limited to the noble metal (Au and Ag). Very recently, the earth-abundant bismuth metal (Bi) was confirmed to show a unique LSPR feature in visible light region, and more importantly, can serve as a direct plasmonic photocatalyst in ppb-level NO removal from a gas flow under UV illumination. However, bare Bi particles do not show enough redox capability as the hot carriers produced via LSPR in Bi metal cannot travel over distances longer than tens of nanometers. In this study, we attempt to introduce the MgAl-layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH) to intensify photocatalytic efficiency of the Bi metal. A facile liquid-phase ultrasound-assisted assembly approach was firstly used to synthesize the Bi@MgAl-LDH nanocomposite, in which Bi-NPs are uniformly supported on MgAl-LDH nanosheets. This composite can efficiently and steadily photocatalyze the removal of ppb-level NO from a continuous air flow under ultraviolet light irradiation via the plasmonic effect Bi metal. The removal efficiency reaches 43% for Bi@MgAl-LDH, much higher than the bare Bi-NPs (43%). The combined study of the composite phase/morphology/structure, its optical property, band structure and ESR oxidation radical capture experiments reveal that MgAl-LDH cannot form a heterojunction with Bi-NPs, and the enhanced photocatalysis on Bi@MgAl-LDH originates from the abundant hydroxide ions (OH−) on the surface of MgAl-LDH. These OH− can quickly capture the photoexcited holes to generate ·OH radicals, and simultaneously promote the electron-hole separation by consuming the holes, both of which can raise the utilization efficiency of the photoexcited hot carriers and provide sufficient oxidative radicals for NO oxidation. Additionally, MgAl-LDH has a unique water molecule memory effect, and the OH− that is consumed in photocatalysis can be replenished by adsorbing water from the air, leading to a stable photocatalytic performance. The reaction pathway study of the photocatalytic NO oxidation over Bi@MgAl-LDH by in-situ DRIFTS reveals that NO is completely mineralized into nitrate. The present work should contribute to a deeper understanding of the photocatalytic mechanism and then the design of robust catalysts for air purification.

Providing a comfortable and pleasant indoor environment for the occupants is the primary objective of an efficient ventilation process. Therefore, it is important to gain a proper understanding between the interaction of airflow and the occupants which determines the ultimate ventilation strategy and as one of the final outcomes, the architecture layout itself. The CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods provide an accurate and robust tool to simulate the complex airflow structure in enclosed spaces. Among the CFD simulation approaches, the large eddy simulation (LES) and its hybrid variants such as detached eddy simulation (DES) provides the information on the flow behavior by modeling the small turbulent structures of the airflow encountered in an indoor environment. These methods are highly sensitive to the boundary conditions which are the pivotal factors in an indoor airflow modeling and its accuracy. The main objectives of this paper are: (a) to assess the performance of different LES and DES models in capturing velocity and thermal fields (b) to investigate the effect of manikin’s shape on the accuracy of predictions. Three LES SGS (sub-grid scale) and one DES models are applied in this study considering the cases with and without the radiation from the manikin. Moreover, the effect of simplifying the manikins’ geometry on velocity and thermal distribution is investigated. Results showed that a detailed manikin shape can provide more accurate predictions (4–10%) at some locations, especially those close to the manikin’s body. As for performance of the applied models, Comparisons showed that ZEM and WALE models provide a better predictions of velocity and temperature fields by 3–10% at different locations.

This chemical composition and pore evolution of oil shale during oxidizing pyrolysis (OP) and their influences on its thermophysical properties were investigated in this study. Various transformations of the minerals in oil shale were detected, among which montmorillonite was noted to transform into illite during anaerobic retorting (AR), and into kaolinite during OP. Variations in the quantities of residual carbon and organic matter during low-temperature AR and OP were noted to be possibly responsible for the difference in pore volumes. Remarkable increases in surface and volumes of mesopores and macropores through OP were observed even at low temperatures. The pore volume was proven to significantly affect the thermophysical properties of semi-cokes at low temperatures during OP. Higher thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity were observed in semi-cokes obtained via OP at 350 ℃ compared to those obtained via AR at 520 ℃. These phenomena highlight the potential of OP for application in in-situ oil shale exploitation.

Physical and biogeochemical heterogeneity dramatically impacts fluid flow and reactive solute transport behaviors in geological formations across scales. From micro pores to regional reservoirs, upscaling has been proven to be a valid approach to estimate large-scale parameters by using data measured at small scales. Upscaling has considerable practical importance in oil and gas production, energy storage, carbon geologic sequestration, contamination remediation, and nuclear waste disposal. This review covers, in a comprehensive manner, the upscaling approaches available in the literature and their applications on various processes, such as advection, dispersion, matrix diffusion, sorption, and chemical reactions. We enclose newly developed approaches and distinguish two main categories of upscaling methodologies, deterministic and stochastic. Volume averaging, one of the deterministic methods, has the advantage of upscaling different kinds of parameters and wide applications by requiring only a few assumptions with improved formulations. Stochastic analytical methods have been extensively developed but have limited impacts in practice due to their requirement for global statistical assumptions. With rapid improvements in computing power, numerical solutions have become more popular for upscaling. In order to tackle complex fluid flow and transport problems, the working principles and limitations of these methods are emphasized. Still, a large gap exists between the approach algorithms and real-world applications. To bridge the gap, an integrated upscaling framework is needed to incorporate in the current upscaling algorithms, uncertainty quantification techniques, data sciences, and artificial intelligence to acquire laboratory and field-scale measurements and validate the upscaled models and parameters with multi-scale observations in future geo-energy research.

paper presents an improved physics based dynamic modelling approach to simulating wooden buildings’ hygrothermal performances under climate change. As the only mainstream renewable building material, wood is widely used in buildings especially in Europe and Northern America. The proposed model is intended to be efficient and adaptable to address one of the major challenges in climate change research: some uncertainties prevail now but will be resolved gradually as time passes. The applicability and practicality of the model are illustrated and tested by a wooden church equipped with well designed and high precision measurements. Model predictions and forecasts are in good agreement to the measurements despite the description of the dynamic model is simple. The model is further applied to a future projection of climate indoors to examine future climate impacts on buildings and to assess the climatic suitability of wood for providing a mechanism that can facilitate the reduction of climate risks and be more resilient to global warming. The paper suggests that wood building materials offer an effective and resilient response to anticipated future climate changes. While predominantly focused on wooden buildings, the model is general enough for other types of buildings.

Advanced thermal treatment of electronic waste offers advantages of volume reduction and energy recovery. In this work, the pyrolysis behaviour of nonmetallic fractions of waste printed circuit boards was studied. The fate of a bromine and thermal decomposition pathway of nonmetallic fractions of waste printed circuit boards were further probed. The thermogravimetric analysis showed that the temperatures of maximum mass loss were located at 319°C and 361°C, with mass loss of 29.6% and 50.6%, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared Spectroscopy analysis revealed that the spectra at temperatures of 300°C–400°C were complicated with larger absorbance intensity. The nonmetallic fractions of waste printed circuit boards decomposed drastically and more evolved products were detected in the temperature range of 600°C–1000°C. The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis indicated that various brominated derivates were generated in addition to small molecules, such as CH4, H2O and CO. The release intensity of CH4 and H2O increased with temperature increasing and reached maximum at 600°C–800°C and 400°C–600°C. More bromoethane (C2H5Br) was formed as compared with HBr and methyl bromide (CH3Br). The release intensity of bromopropane (C3H7Br) and bromoacetone (C3H5BrO) were comparable, although smaller than that of bromopropene (C3H5Br). More dibromophenol (C6H4Br2O) was released than that of bromophenol (C6H5BrO) in the thermal treatment. During the thermal process, part of the ether bonds first ruptured forming bisphenol A, propyl alcohol and tetrabromobisphenol A. Then, the tetrabromobisphenol A decomposed into C6H5BrO and HBr, which further reacted with small molecules forming brominated derivates. It implied debromination of raw nonmetallic fractions of waste printed circuit boards or pyrolysis products should be applied for its environmentally sound treating.

This article presents long-term experimental studies on the moisture safety in the ventilation cavities of highly insulated (HI) structures. The tested HI-walls had thermal transmittances of 0.11-0.13 W/m2K. A wall with a thermal transmittance of 0.23 W/m2K represented the baseline wall in the test. In addition to walls, an HI-roof of a newly built house with a U-value of 0.08 W/m2K was measured. The results indicate that, in the ventilation cavity, the relative humidity of an HI-wall exceeds 1-7% of the humidity measured from the baseline wall during winter, which coincides with the 0.4-1.5ºC lower temperatures observed in the HI-walls. The mold risk in the ventilation cavities of the walls is low, as the value of the mold index (MI) remains below one, which indicates small amounts of microscopic mold only on surfaces. However, at the bottom of the cavity, the MI value reaches 1.4 due to lower temperatures. In the HI-roof, the MI values are between 1.0 and 2.0 in the middle of the cavity in winter. The reasons for the higher mold risk of the roof are the humid weather, the built-in moisture of the roof and the low heat flux from inside. The study confirms that, in the future, warmer weather and increased humidity can increase moisture risks in the ventilation cavities. The results support the use of materials that are more resistant to mold in the outer parts of structures.

The recent research on highly insulated structures presents controversial conclusions on risks in moisture safety. This paper addresses these controversial issues through investigating the hygrothermal performance of energy efficient envelope structures under high moisture loads. The experiments consist of built-in moisture and rain leakage tests in mineral wool insulated structures. A heat and moisture transfer simulation model is developed to examine the drying-out ability in both warm and cold seasons. The results show that the energy efficient structures have an excellent drying out ability against built-in and leakage moisture. The difference in the drying ability is limited compared to conventional structures. A critical leakage moisture amount reaching the insulation cavity for a wood frame wall is determined to be between 6.9&ndash, 20.7 g in a single rain event occurring every other day. Further research is required to target highly insulated structures, particularly addressing water vapor diffusion and convection.