Portsmouth Research Articles

Lean and interpretable digital twins for building energy monitoring – A case study with smart thermostatic radiator valves and gas absorption heat pumps

The transition to low carbon energy systems poses challenges in terms of energy efficiency. In building refurbishment projects, efficient technologies such as smart controls and heat pumps are increasingly being used as a substitute for conventional technologies with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and determining operational energy and cost savings, together with other benefits. Measured building performance, however, often reveals a significant gap between the predicted energy use (design stage) and actual energy use (operation stage). For this reason, lean and interpretable digital twins are needed for building energy monitoring aimed at persistence of savings and continuous performance improvement. In this research, interpretable regression models are built with data at multiple temporal resolutions (monthly, daily and hourly) and seamlessly integrated with the goal of verifying the performance improvements due to Smart thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) and gas absorption heat pumps (GAHPs) as well as giving insights on the performance of the building as a whole. Further, as part of modelling research, time of week and temperature (TOWT) approach is reformulated and benchmarked against its original implementation. The case study chosen is Hale Court sheltered housing, located in the city of Portsmouth (UK). This building has been used for the field-testing of innovative technologies such as TRVs and GAHPs within the EU Horizon 2020 project THERMOSS. The results obtained are used to illustrate possible extensions of the use of energy signature modelling, highlighting implications for energy management and innovative building technologies development.

Traffic channelisation and pavement deterioration: an investigation of the role of lateral wander on asphalt pavement rutting

ABSTRACT Accurate estimation of traffic load plays a crucial role in the economical design of pavements. The cross sectional distribution of the vehicle positions means that the traffic load is spread across the surface of the pavement. Several factors influence the distribution of vehicle positions and hence load. When wheel paths are perfectly aligned with each other, this is termed channelised traffic (or channelisation). This study investigated the impact of channelisation on asphalt pavement rutting. Data was collected on 100 sections of pavement in the city of Portsmouth, United Kingdom including vehicle/wheel positions and rut depths. Regression analysis was conducted to understand how the degree of channelisation influenced the rut depths that the traffic loading had created. The analyses revealed that the degree of channelisation of traffic has a statistically significant contribution to the progress of rutting. In this study, the difference between the maximum and minimum degrees of channelisation observed, related to a seven-fold difference in the rut depth. These findings give further guidance to pavement engineers when designing new pavements and considering the maintenance schedules for existing pavements, as it allows them to better predict the future condition and lifespan of a pavement.

THE OTTOMAN POSITION ON THE RUSSO JAPANESE WAR IN THE FAR EAST 1896-1905

The research aims to shed light on the Ottoman position on the Russo-Japanese war in the Far East 1904-1905; Where the Ottoman Empire took an intriguing stance, there was a discrepancy between the popular stance and the official stance of the Attic State. The Ottoman people took the stance of open hostility to the Russians, and supported Japan in its struggle against Russia, and the people and intellectuals in the Ottoman Empire showed a great desire for Japan’s victory and defeat.” Petersburg ". While we find the position of Sultan Abdul Hamid and the Ottoman Empire in contradiction to the position of the public towards the people; He adopted the policy of strategic balance in the conflict between the Japanese and the Russians, considering that Russia is the largest neighboring country to the Ottoman Empire, and it still poses a great danger to the property of the Ottoman Empire that must be avoided. Therefore, the Ottoman Sultan followed a completely different plan and policy to the trends of public opinion. He was keen to support Japan, and at the same time avoided angering the European countries that supported the Russians and the possibility of confronting Russia, which is the strongest and most dangerous neighbor to him. Therefore, Sultan Abdul Hamid II adopted many other strategies, and followed a neutral policy towards Russia and Japan, went in the direction of the policy called the policy of balances. We also discussed in this research the development of Ottoman-Japanese relations before the Russo-Japanese war, and focused on the causes of the conflict between the Japanese and Russian states, and its repercussions on the balance of power in the region. And the international position on this conflict, We dealt with the American endeavors to end the war between the two parties under the Port Smouth Agreement, and discussed the effects of the Japanese victory over Russia and its repercussions on the peoples of the East. Key words: Russo, Japanese War, Far East, Abdul Hamid Ii, Ottoman Empire.

UNH Unveils ‘Living Laboratory’ on Portsmouth Crossing

UNH Unveils ‘Living Laboratory’ on Portsmouth Crossing

Dental implant training coming to Portsmouth

Dental implant training coming to Portsmouth

A methodology for urban micro-scale coastal flood vulnerability and risk assessment and mapping

One of the most dangerous challenges to settlements in the UK comes from flooding. Currently, there is extensive map coverage of flood hazards zones in the UK; however, it is increasingly recognised that risk associated with natural hazards cannot be reduced solely by focussing on the hazard. There is also an urgent need for methods of evaluating and mapping flood vulnerability and risk in detail. Despite its significance, conventional flood risk assessment methodologies often underestimate likely levels of vulnerability in areas prone to hazards, yet it is the degree of vulnerability within a community that determines the consequences of any given hazard. The research presented proposes a general methodology to assess and map Coastal Flood Vulnerability and Risk at a detailed, micro-scale level. This captures aspects that are considered crucial and representative of reality (socio-economic, physical and resilient features). The methodology is then applied to a UK case study (city of Portsmouth). Environment Agency flood hazard data, National Census socio-economic data and Ordnance Survey topographic map data have been used to evaluate and map coastal flood vulnerability, examining neighbourhoods within census wards. This led to a subsequent analysis of Coastal Flood Risk, via the combination of a Coastal Flood Vulnerability Index and a Coastal Flood Hazard Index, for the Portsmouth ward Hilsea. This, consequently, identifies potential weaknesses that could lead to more effective targeting of interventions to improve resilience and reduce vulnerability in the long term and provides a basis for hazard and environmental managers/planners to generate comprehensive national/international vulnerability and risk assessments.

Modeling Groundwater Rise Caused by Sea-Level Rise in Coastal New Hampshire

Knott, J.F.; Jacobs, J.M.; Daniel, J.S., and Kirshen, P., 2019. Modeling groundwater rise caused by sea-level rise in coastal New Hampshire. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(1), 143–157. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Coastal communities with low topography are vulnerable from sea-level rise (SLR) caused by climate change and glacial isostasy. Coastal groundwater will rise with sea level, affecting water quality, the structural integrity of infrastructure, and natural ecosystem health. SLR-induced groundwater rise has been studied in coastal areas of high aquifer transmissivity. In this regional study, SLR-induced groundwater rise is investigated in a coastal area characterized by shallow unconsolidated deposits overlying fractured bedrock, typical of the glaciated NE. A numerical groundwater-flow model is used with groundwater observations and withdrawals, LIDAR topography, and surface-water hydrology to investigate SLR-induced changes in groundwater levels in New Hampshire's coastal region. The SLR groundwater signal is detected more than three times farther inland than projected tidal flooding from SLR. The projected mean groundwater rise relative to SLR is 66% between 0 and 1 km, 34% between 1 and 2 km, 18% between 2 and 3 km, 7% between 3 and 4 km, and 3% between 4 and 5 km of the coastline, with large variability around the mean. The largest magnitude of SLR-induced groundwater rise occurs in the marine and estuarine deposits and peninsulas with tidal water bodies on three sides. Groundwater rise is dampened near streams. Groundwater inundation is projected to contribute 48% of the total inundated area from both SLR-induced groundwater rise and marine tidal flooding in the city of Portsmouth, with consequences for built and natural resources. Freshwater wetlands are projected to expand 3% by the year 2030, increasing to 25% by the end of the century, coupled with water-depth increases.

Somerstown Stories and the benefits of using a design charette for community engagement

Somerstown Stories was a local heritage project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, collaborating initially with Somers Park Primary School in Somerstown, within the City of Portsmouth. The aim of the project was to enable people to reconnect with their locality by exploring local history. In addition, the project explored the question: does knowing more about where you live change how you feel about living there? At the time of the project, the area of Somerstown was at the beginning of a process of phased redevelopment, so it was timely for local groups and organizations as a whole to look back at their history and the shaping of the area, in order to prepare to look forward and plan for the future. As part of the larger Somerstown Stories project, the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture was invited to coordinate a design charette for Year 9 students from the local Charter Academy School. This paper explores the nature of the charette, and its value in engaging different stakeholders. The paper is written using commentaries, conclusions and reflections from the key people involved with this project, including Canon Nick Ralph from the Diocese of Portsmouth; Sharon Court, Creative Practitioner and Project Manager for the Somerstown Stories project; Martin Andrews, Architect and Principal Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture; and Andrew Joyce, a University of Portsmouth student at the time of the design charette and now a registered architect working at ArchitecturePLB in Winchester.

‘Read for Victory’: Public Libraries and Book Reading in a British Naval Port City during the Second World War

In 1942, a library official in Portsmouth, UK appealed to the city’s inhabitants to ‘read for victory’, believing that they had a duty to use their reading time productively as part of their wartime activities. This article argues that long-standing desires among the country’s political and civic elites to encourage the nation’s readers to spend their leisure time prudently intensified during the Second World War. The public library service was utilised by civic leaders, library officials and publishing trade personnel to aid the country’s war effort. The article argues that negative attitudes regarding mass reading tastes remained largely static, despite recognition that the conflict drew people to the written word for relaxation and escapism. Using the naval city of Portsmouth as a case study, this article charts the activities of the city’s public library authorities and the borrowing habits of its readers to reveal that while many people borrowed books in order to distract themselves from the conflict, the city’s strategic importance ensured that many citizens also read in order to facilitate their preparedness for war service, whether that be on the home front or overseas. The article argues that while, in common with national trends, many of Portsmouth’s citizens used libraries to obtain books to help distract them from the war, many remained eager to make use of the service for educational purposes, unlike the majority of the nation’s library users, whose interest in this aspect of library provision rapidly waned as the war progressed. The article concludes that the public library service was viewed as a central plank in the war effort and that library officials worked continuously to ensure that it remained so.

Evaluation of Retrofit Approaches for Two Social Housing Tower Blocks in Portsmouth, UK

The UK aims to reduce its carbon emissions focusing on the renovation of its existing building stock, particularly on the residential sector. Within this group, social housing is an excellent candidate for retrofits, but faces specific challenges. The cases presented in this study are social housing tower blocks in the City of Portsmouth, which are destined to be retrofitted but present particularities within its architecture, heating system, and occupants’ behaviour and comfort perception. This study presents an analysis of the thermal performance of these buildings after different retrofit intervention scenarios were undertaken to evaluate heating loads, comfort and overheating. A dynamic simulation model was developed using the software TRNSYS and included performance evaluation under future climate change scenarios. Firstly, the buildings were modelled under different occupier energy profiles and the results in all cases, show that the physical properties of the building lead to a high level of energy consumption and discomfort. Moreover, the simulation of possible retrofits demonstrated that improving the building envelope to meet 2010 Building Regulations or stricter standards would result in a decrease of more than 80% of the heating load but would result in overheating if no adequate shading is installed. The analysis indicates that the best performing retrofit corresponded to a mixed system of MHRV for heating and natural ventilation during the summer. The paper concludes that (a) existing buildings are inefficient and a retrofit would result in a complete change in their energy performance and (b) that a thorough economic appraisal is required to select the best environmentally and economically viable interventions.

Encouraging sustainable modal shift—An evaluation of the Portsmouth Big Green Commuter Challenge

This paper describes the impact of the Portsmouth “Big Green Commuter Challenge” (BGCC) event, organised by Portsmouth City Council (PCC) in order to reduce carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions from transport within the city. In total, over 900 people and 33 organisations took part in the 2011 event. This is an example of a “Smarter Choice” measure designed to encourage travel behavioural change to more sustainable modes of transport. A literature review and evaluation of previous “Smarter Choices” measures has been carried out to give some context to the BGCC. An introduction to the city of Portsmouth is presented, in particular its efforts to reduce road traffic and emissions from the city centre area. The event encouraged a modal shift to more sustainable modes of travel, resulting in estimated reductions in CO2 and NOx emissions per mile. However, a number of further recommendations have been made to enable future similar events to have a greater impact on road traffic and emissions.

Concern and Helplessness: Citizens' Assessments of Individual and Collective Action on the Provision of Environmental Public Goods in a Coastal City at Risk of Inundation.

Survey data from a representative sample of 1005 households in the UK coastal city of Portsmouth are examined to discern commonalities and contrasts in their assessment of actions to address the related environmental threats of climate change and flooding. The city of Portsmouth is at risk of inundation from rising sea levels and the city has recent experience of flooding. A simple local and global public good framework is used to organize the understanding of reported attitudes and their determinants. The findings show that it is not always the same individuals who express concern about both climate change and flooding. Investigation into perceptions of helplessness in tackling climate change indicates that individuals more often perceived themselves to be helpless in tackling climate but perceived local collective action to be more effective. Individuals considered local collective action to be more effective in tackling climate change. Perceptions of individual helplessness are in turn related to reported concern. Several socioeconomic characteristics of individuals are shown to be useful in explaining the determinants of concern and perceptions of helplessness among respondents. As other cities face climate change-related challenges, the empirical findings, based upon attitudes from an alert urban population, are informative to policy design.

Three preoperative scoring systems to predict 30-day mortality in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery

Objective To compare 3 kinds of preoperative scoring systems used to predict 30-day mortality in a hip fracture population, Physiological and Operative Severity Score for Enumeration of Mortality and Morbidity (POSSUM), Portsmouth modified POSSUM (P-POSSUM) and Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS). Methods A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the aged 654 patients who had undergone surgery for femoral intertrochanteric fracture or femoral neck fracture from January 2010 through June 2014 at our hospital. They were 225 men and 429 women, 60 to 103 years of age (average, 71.7 years). There were 363 femoral intertrochanteric fractures and 291 femoral neck fractures. Closed reduction and intramedullary nailing was performed in 363 cases, artificial dipolar replacement in 242 cases, and total hip replacement in 49 cases. POSSUM, P-POSSUM and E-PASS scoring systems were used to predict the 30-day mortality. The discrepancy between the predictive risk and the actual observation was analyzed. Results Of the 654 patients, 25 died within 30 days after operation. According to POSSUM scoring system, the predictability (observed deaths/POSSUM deaths) was 0.30, showing a significant difference between the predictive deaths and the actual deaths (χ2=34.840,P=0.009). According to P-POSSUM and E-PASS scoring systems, the predictability was respectively 0.83 and 1.04, demonstrating no significant differences between the predictive deaths and the actual deaths (P>0.05). Conclusion P-POSSUM and E-PASS scoring systems may predict 30-day mortality more accurately than POSSUM scoring system in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery. Key words: Hip fractures; Mortality; Score system; Aged

From Places Between to Industrialized Countryside: Creating Enriched Uranium and Coal-Fired Energy in the Ohio Valley in the Early Cold War Era, 1952–65

From Places Between to Industrialized CountrysideCreating Enriched Uranium and Coal-Fired Energy in the Ohio Valley in the Early Cold War Era, 1952–65 Megan Chew (bio) In southern Ohio in late 1952, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) broke ground on a uranium-enrichment plant on the farmland of Pike County. Piketon, the new plant’s main location, is about twenty-five miles north of the small industrial Ohio River city of Portsmouth, Ohio, along the Scioto River’s route from Portsmouth to Columbus. Plant construction began in Piketon in December 1952 as part of AEC’s expansion for Cold War defense purposes, and occurred simultaneously with a major industrialization of the Ohio Valley. The industrial transformation of this area of the Ohio Valley had implications for the environment, for national security, for the region’s labor force, and for the future development of the power industry. This article considers the environmental, social, political, and economic aspects of the development in the Ohio Valley during the 1950s. The new atomic plant site in the Piketon area and the new power plants in Ohio and Indiana created an industrialized countryside out of farmland, something between metropolitan and rural, and a new type of environment in the early Cold War era. This article focuses on the early years of optimism and construction of the enrichment site and steam electric power plants in rural spaces of southern Ohio and southern Indiana. The forces behind the projects—the electric companies creating power plants and the AEC—sought [End Page 26] the water, labor, coal, land, and location necessary for the creation of large amounts of enriched uranium and electricity available in the valley. Two forces—the AEC and the group of electric utilities that came together as the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC)—worked together on a joint public-private project that made use of both farmland and waterways in the region to produce large amounts of electricity for the energy-intensive process of uranium enrichment. Locals negotiated and at times courted these developments for the struggling areas, and local boosters emphasized the desirability of the industrial countryside as a place to live and work. The location in the countryside—close to major populations but with open land—met the needs of coal and atomic production. This specific type of countryside environment attracted the industrial sites, and the new plants changed the countryside. The countryside, as developed here, refers to the land between cities and the “wildlands,” following Samuel P. Hays’s division in his postwar study of environmentalism and environmental policy, Beauty, Health, and Permanence. Hays utilized these categories because the “perception and experience, from which distinct ideas and action flow” differed based on the physical environment.1 Hays noted that “until World War II the American countryside was land nobody wanted.”2 After the war, it became an area under dispute—whether it should be used for its scenery or for the open land and resources it offered. Hays’s categorization fits the valley’s situation after 1945 because the environmental qualities of the countryside—open land, natural resources, less traffic, and lower population density—drew new industry to the Ohio Valley. Politicians and business leaders specifically categorized the development within a “countryside” discussion and emphasized its superiority to cities in expanding industry after World War II. Rather than discussing the land within a “wildlands” context, these leaders looked to make this countryside useful, a common impulse in the second half of the twentieth century. [End Page 27] This study joins others in social and environmental history in considering the role of the hinterland or countryside in postwar U.S. history. Urban environmental histories have provided some of the important groundwork in developing connections between social life and the path of industry in the physical environment, and this study seeks to use a social and environmental perspective to consider a more neglected environment.3 Adam Rome, in The Bulldozer in the Countryside, has considered the effects of postwar suburban housing development on the “open land” around sprawling cities.4 Rome’s work considers the way middle-class people became increasingly aware of the environmental movement through development of the countryside, while...

Improving a diabetes foot service to prevent amputations: the Portsmouth experience

Diabetes-related amputations have a dramatic effect on quality of life and life expectancy and are also a huge financial burden to the National Health Service (NHS). The city of Portsmouth had the second-highest amputation rate in the country from 2007–2010, according to data published in early 2011, leading to a restructuring of the foot care pathway in the area. Over a three year period, the rate of major amputations in people with diabetes in Portsmouth has fallen from 2.3/1,000 to 1.4/1,000, compared with the national average of 1.1/1,000. Repeat hospital admissions for diabetic foot disease are comparable to the national average for the first time. We continue to identify areas of improvement needed for our patients with diabetes and hope to continue to improve foot outcomes for our patients.

Application of damage control technique in treatment of intertrochanteric fracture in the elderly

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of damage control measures in treatment of femoral intertrochanteric fracture among the elderly.Methods A total of 166 patients with intertrochanteric fracture treated with damage control measures from December 2008 to December 2013 were included in the retrospective study.There were 68 men and 98 women at age of (85.23 ±3.19) years.Fracture classification using the AO system was type A1 in 18 cases,type A2 in 89 cases and type A3 in 59 cases.Mortality and incidences of postoperative complications were predicted respectively by the physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) and Portsmouth modified POSSUM (P-POSSUM).The validity of damage control measures was evaluated by comparing the predicted risks and observed outcomes.Results On admission,there were 61 patients with low risk of complications (POSSUM ＜ 20 points) treated with damage control surgery but 105 patients with high risk of complication (POSSUM ≥20 points) treated with physiological control following damage control surgery.Predicted incidences of complications and mortality were (48.6 ± 6.8) ％ and (10.1 ±1.9) ％ respectively prior to damage control,but they were (35.6 ± 4.5) ％ and (4.6 ± 1.4) ％ after damage control.Observed incidences of complications and mortality were 37.4％ and 1.8％ respectively,with significant differences in comparison with those before damage control (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion For the elderly patients with intertrochanteric fracture,damage control measures can avoid surgical risks and reduce the incidences of postoperative complications and death. Key words: Femoral fractures; Aged; Damage control orthopedics

‘Calling all Bands 1-4’: Portsmouth's second HCSW day

‘Calling all Bands 1-4’: Portsmouth's second HCSW day

O-POSSUM and P-POSSUM for evaluation of operative risk of aged patients in orthopedic department

Objective To retrospectively review the mortality and morbidity after orthopedic surgery for aged patients with reference to orthopedic version physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (O-POSSUM) and Portsmouth POSSUM (P-POSSUM) and validate the score' s accuracy in operative risk prediction.Methods O-POSSUM and P-POSSUM for mortality and morbidity were applied to 839 aged patients who had undergone orthopedic surgery between January 2008 and December 2011.Observed mortality and morbidity were compared with the expected values.Results O-POSSUM predicted 230 morbidities,but the observed value was 182 (x2 =2.718,P ＞ 0.05).O-POSSUM predicted 46 deaths,higher than the observed 3 deaths (x2 =38.870,P＜0.01).P-POSSUM predicted 16 deaths,higher than the observed 3 deaths (x2 =8.997,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions O-POSSUM accurately predicts postoperative morbidity in aged orthopedic patients.However,O-POSSUM and P-POSSUM overpredicts the mortality and should be used with caution. Key words: Aged; Fractures; Prognosis; Orthopedic version physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity

Immunisation against HPV in girls with intellectual disabilities

Since September 2008 in the UK, immunisation against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been routinely offered to all girls aged 12–13 years as part of the childhood immunisation programme. It has...

NAM 2014 at Portsmouth

NAM 2014 at Portsmouth