Fire Performance Analysis for Buildings

Explores and brings together the existent body of knowledge on building performance analysis Building performance is an important yet surprisingly complex concept. This book presents a comprehensive and systematic overview of the subject. It provides a working definition of building performance, and an in-depth discussion of the role building performance plays throughout the building life cycle. The book also explores the perspectives of various stakeholders, the functions of buildings, performance requirements, performance quantification (both predicted and measured), criteria for success, and the challenges of using performance analysis in practice. Building Performance Analysis starts by introducing the subject of building performance: its key terms, definitions, history, and challenges. It then develops a theoretical foundation for the subject, explores the complexity of performance assessment, and the way that performance analysis impacts on actual buildings. In doing so, it attempts to answer the following questions: What is building performance? How can building performance be measured and analyzed? How does the analysis of building performance guide the improvement of buildings? And what can the building domain learn from the way performance is handled in other disciplines? Assembles the current body of knowledge on building performance analysis in one unique resource Offers deep insights into the complexity of using building performance analysis throughout the entire building life cycle, including design, operation and management Contributes an emergent theory of building performance and its analysis Building Performance Analysis will appeal to the building science community, both from industry and academia. It specifically targets advanced students in architectural engineering, building services design, building performance simulation and similar fields who hold an interest in ensuring that buildings meet the needs of their stakeholders.

The book presents some key mathematical tools for the performance analysis of communication networks and computer systems. Communication networks and computer systems have become extremely complex. The statistical resource sharing induced by the random behavior of users and the underlying protocols and algorithms may affect Quality of Service. This book introduces the main results of queuing theory that are useful for analyzing the performance of these systems. These mathematical tools are key to the development of robust dimensioning rules and engineering methods. A number of examples illustrate their practical interest.

This book arrives at just the right time to facilitate understanding of performance-based fire risk assessment in buildings – an integral part of the global shift in policy away from traditional prescriptive codes. Yung, an internationally recognised expert on the subject of fire risk assessment, introduces the basic principles and techniques that help the reader to understand the various methodologies that are currently in place or being proposed by different organisations. Through his illustration of basic principles and techniques he enables the reader to conduct their own fire risk assessments. He demonstrates how the probabilities of fire scenarios are assessed based on the probabilities of success and failure of fire protection measures that are in place. He also shows how the consequences of fire scenarios are assessed based on the intensity and speed of fire and smoke spread, the probability and speed of occupant response and evacuation, and the effectiveness and speed of fire department response and rescue efforts. Yung’s clear and practical approach to this highly topical subject enables the reader to integrate the various tools available into a quantitative framework that can be used for decision making. He brings an invaluable resource to all those involved in fire engineering and risk assessment, including students, academics, building designers, fire protection engineers, structural engineers, regulators and risk analysts.

An up-to-date version of the complete, self-contained introduction to matrix analysis theory and practice Providing accessible and in-depth coverage of the most common matrix methods now used in statistical applications, Matrix Analysis for Statistics, Third Edition features an easy-to-follow theorem/proof format. Featuring smooth transitions between topical coverage, the author carefully justifies the step-by-step process of the most common matrix methods now used in statistical applications, including eigenvalues and eigenvectors; the Moore-Penrose inverse; matrix differentiation; and the distribution of quadratic forms. An ideal introduction to matrix analysis theory and practice, Matrix Analysis for Statistics, Third Edition features: • New chapter or section coverage on inequalities, oblique projections, and antieigenvalues and antieigenvectors • Additional problems and chapter-end practice exercises at the end of each chapter • Extensive examples that are familiar and easy to understand • Self-contained chapters for flexibility in topic choice • Applications of matrix methods in least squares regression and the analyses of mean vectors and covariance matrices Matrix Analysis for Statistics, Third Edition is an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level courses on matrix methods, multivariate analysis, and linear models. The book is also an excellent reference for research professionals in applied statistics. James R. Schott, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Central Florida. He has published numerous journal articles in the area of multivariate analysis. Dr. Schott’s research interests include multivariate analysis, analysis of covariance and correlation matrices, and dimensionality reduction techniques.

This long-awaited reference guide provides a complete overview of low energy cooling systems for buildings, covering a wide range of existing and emerging sustainable energy technologies in one comprehensive volume. An excellent data source on cooling performance, such as building loads or solar thermal chiller efficiencies, it is essential reading for building services and renewable energy engineers and researchers covering sustainable design. The book is unique in including a large set of experimental results from years of monitoring actual building and energy plants, as well as detailed laboratory and simulation analyses. These demonstrate which systems really work in buildings, what the real costs are and how operation can be optimized – crucial information for planners, builders and architects to gain confidence in applying new technologies in the building sector. Inside you will find valuable insights into: the energy demand of residential and office buildings; facades and summer performance of buildings; passive cooling strategies; geothermal cooling; active thermal cooling technologies, including absorption cooling, desiccant cooling and new developments in low power chillers; sustainable building operation using simulation. Supporting case study material makes this a useful text for senior undergraduate students on renewable and sustainable energy courses. Practical and informative, it is the best up-to-date volume on the important and rapidly growing area of cooling.

A comprehensive introduction for scientists engaged in new drug development, analysis, and approvals Each year the pharmaceutical industry worldwide recruits thousands of recent science graduates—especially chemistry, analytical chemistry, pharmacy, and pharmaceutical majors—into its ranks. However, because of their limited background in pharmaceutical analysis most of those new recruits find making the transition from academia to industry very difficult. Designed to assist both recent graduates, as well as experienced chemists or scientists with limited regulatory, compendial or pharmaceutical analysis background, make that transition, Pharmaceutical Analysis for Small Molecules is a concise, yet comprehensive introduction to the drug development process and analysis of chemically synthesized, small molecule drugs. It features contributions by distinguished experts in the field, including editor and author, Dr. Behnam Davani, an analytical chemist with decades of technical management and teaching experience in compendial, regulatory, and industry. This book provides an introduction to pharmaceutical analysis for small molecules (non-biologics) using commonly used techniques for drug characterization and performance tests. The driving force for industry to perform pharmaceutical analyses is submission of such data and supporting documents to regulatory bodies for drug approval in order to market their products. In addition, related required supporting studies including good laboratory/documentation practices including analytical instrument qualification are highlighted in this book. Topics covered include: Drug Approval Process and Regulatory Requirements (private standards) Pharmacopeias and Compendial Approval Process (public standards) Common methods in pharmaceutical analysis (typically compendial) Common Calculations for assays and impurities and other specific tests Analytical Method Validation, Verification, Transfer Specifications including how to handle out of specification (OOS) and out of trend (OOT) Impurities including organic, inorganic, residual solvents and elemental impurities Good Documentation Practices for regulatory environment Management of Analytical Laboratories Analytical Instrument Qualifications including IQ, OQ, PQ and VQ Due to global nature of pharmaceutical industry, other topics on both regulatory (ICH) and Compendial harmonization are also highlighted. Pharmaceutical Analysis for Small Molecules is a valuable working resource for scientists directly or indirectly involved with the drug development process, including analytical chemists, pharmaceutical scientists, pharmacists, and quality control/quality assurance professionals. It also is an excellent text/reference for graduate students in analytical chemistry, pharmacy, pharmaceutical and regulatory sciences.

Learn to apply the International Building Code and International Existing Building Code to historic buildings Written for architects, engineers, preservation, and code enforcement professionals, this is the only comprehensive book that examines how the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) can be applied to historic and existing buildings. For ease of use, the book is organized to parallel the structure of the IEBC itself, and the approach is cumulative, with the objective of promoting an understanding of the art of applying building regulations to the environment of existing buildings. Building Codes for Existing and Historic Buildings begins with a discussion of the history of building regulations in the United States and the events and conditions that created them. Next, it provides thorough coverage of: The rationale behind code provisions and historic preservation principles Major building code requirements: occupancy and use, types of construction, and heights and areas Building performance characteristics: fire and life safety, structural safety, health and hygiene, accident prevention, accessibility, and energy conservation Case study projects that reinforce the material covered Additionally, the book includes building analysis worksheets—both blank and filled-in versions with examples—that illustrate how to develop a code approach for an individual building. If you are a professional at any level who is working on creating a plan that meets the intent of the code for historic or existing buildings, Building Codes for Existing and Historic Buildings gives you everything that you need to succeed.

This book introduces drug researchers to the novel computational approaches of pathway analysis and explains the existing applications that can save time and money in the drug discovery process. It covers traditional computational methods and software for pathway analysis microarray, proteomics, and metabolomics. It explains pathway reconstruction of diseases and toxic states, pathway analysis in various phases, dynamic modeling of drug responses, and more. This is a core resource for drug discovery and pharmaceutical industry researchers, chemists, and biologists and for professionals in related fields.

This book develops the stochastic geometry framework for image analysis purpose. Two main frameworks are described: marked point process and random closed sets models. We derive the main issues for defining an appropriate model. The algorithms for sampling and optimizing the models as well as for estimating parameters are reviewed. Numerous applications, covering remote sensing images, biological and medical imaging, are detailed. This book provides all the necessary tools for developing an image analysis application based on modern stochastic modeling.

For many years asset management was considered to be a marginal activity, but today, it is central to the development of financial industry throughout the world. Asset management's transition from an «art and craft» to an industry has inevitably called integrated business models into question, favouring specialisation strategies based on cost optimisation and learning curve objectives. This book connects each of these major categories of techniques and practices to the unifying and seminal conceptual developments of modern portfolio theory. In these bear market times, performance evaluation of portfolio managers is of central focus. This book will be one of very few on the market and is by a respected member of the profession. Allows the professionals, whether managers or investors, to take a step back and clearly separate true innovations from mere improvements to well-known, existing techniques Puts into context the importance of innovations with regard to the fundamental portfolio management questions, which are the evolution of the investment management process, risk analysis and performance measurement Takes the explicit or implicit assumptions contained in the promoted tools into account and, by so doing, evaluate the inherent interpretative or practical limits