In order to obtain control data on the temperature sense (warm and cool threshold values) of fingertips, the relationships between room temperature and either skin temperature, warm threshold or cool threshold of the middle fingertips were investigated in healthy subjects (6 males), using our thermo-esthesiometer. The skin temperature changes in a sigmoidal response with the variation of room t...

Cool roofs represent an acknowledged passive cooling technique to reduce building energy consumption for cooling and to mitigate urban heat island effects. This paper concerns the evaluation of the dynamic effect of new cool roof clay tiles on building thermal performance in summer and winter conditions. To this end, these properties have been analyzed on traditional roof brick tiles through an...

This paper explores the way that young people view the notion of cool, and how designers can leverage that notion in their design activities. To complement the many user studies about cool, this paper presents an analytic evaluation of categories of cool, leveraging information from multiple expert review sessions with a total of 38 participants. All of the participants, who were in their late ...

COOL Informatics is a project that wants to foster informatics education in primary and secondary schools by integrating it in different subjects. The term “COOL” references to the following approaches: (1) to the Austrian teaching model COOL – COoperative Open Learning, (2) to COmputer-supported Open Learning as well as (3) to the adjective “cool” in the sense of motivating and useful. Mobile ...

This paper describes a suite of studies that investigated ‘cool’ as it applies to the design of interactive products for teenagers. Beginning with a hierarchy of cool that situated cool across three dimensions of having, doing, and being cool, the studies reported here are described in terms of their findings and the extent to which they confirm the model. The contribution, and potential, of th...

During the epoch of large galaxy formation, thermal instability leads to the formation of a population of cool fragments which are embedded within a background of tenuous hot gas. The hot gas attains a quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium. Although the cool clouds are pressure confined by the hot gas, they fall into the galactic potential, and their motion is subject to drag from the hot gas. The rele...

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the development and thermal-energy analysis of passive solutions for reducing building cooling needs and thus improving indoor thermal comfort conditions. In this view, several studies were carried out about cool roofs and cool coatings, producing acknowledged mitigation effects on urban heat island phenomenon. The purpose of this work is to ...

Butters, margarines and table spreads are water-in-oil emulsions. Melting characteristics of these products are important for flavor release and consumer acceptance. One characteristic that is believed to discriminate butters from margarines is a cooling sensation perceived in-mouth while consuming these products. Here, we investigated different methods to characterize sensorically and analytic...