Feeling the Earthship house: eliciting a perspective of posterity through immersive virtual reality

Purpose: The surging cost of living and shortage of affordable and sustainable homes fuel the global housing crisis. Earthship buildings are marketed as the epitome of affordable and sustainable alternative housing. This paper aimed to elicit the perception of Earthship buildings among youngsters in the United Kingdom using immersive virtual reality technology. Additionally, the impact of virtual reality on perception compared with two-dimensional drawings was investigated in the study. Design/methodology/approach: A three-phase, experiment-based survey was adopted: Phase 1: literature review, Earthship house model conception and the virtual environment creation; Phase 2: two-dimensional drawing-based pre-visualisation survey; Phase 3: virtual reality–based post-visualisation survey. Findings: The findings indicated that youngsters had a remarkable, positive change in attitude towards the uptake of the Earthship houses after virtual reality visualisation. In contrast, sustainability experts shared more concerns regarding the concept's viability in the United Kingdom, even after the virtual reality visualisation. However, both youngsters and experts agreed with the pre-eminence of virtual reality over two-dimensional drawings. Originality/value: The lack of awareness about Earthship buildings for posterity was noted in previous studies, which could be attributed to there being very few Earthship buildings in the United Kingdom. The importance of this awareness among youngsters cannot be over-emphasised since youngsters are affected most by the shortage of affordable and sustainable homes. This gap was addressed by enlightening the youth about Earthship houses and imparting awareness through near-real-life virtual reality visualisation

Embodied Carbon reporting by German real estate institutional investors

Background: The building sector is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. The European Union pledges to become climate neutral by 2050. To reach this goal, member states will need to account for embodied carbon emissions. Currently, in Germany, there are no regulations that require institutional real estate investors to account for the embodied carbon of their buildings. However, existing voluntary measurement frameworks could be used for embodied carbon accounting. Hence, this is the first systematic study exploring public disclosures by German institutional real estate investors on their embodied carbon emissions to improve the transparency of their emissions.Methods: The study uses a mixed-methods research design. Secondary data was collected using purposive sampling of German institutional real estate investors and investigating their public disclosures via corporate websites. This data was then used to shape exploratory semi-structured interviews with industry experts from those institutions responsible for addressing sustainability issues.Results: While the built environment sector is one of the major contributors of carbon emissions and is under pressure to disclose these in a transparent way in order to evaluate opportunities for reductions, the current public disclosures are limited and lack substance, suggesting that institutional real estate investors in Germany are yet to adequately quantify their environmental impact regarding embodied carbon and, thus, need to improve reporting on their progress towards climate neutrality.Conclusions: This study gives an overview of embodied carbon measuring and accounting tools, current and proposed regulations in Germany, and sets the foundations for best-practice recommendations on embodied carbon accounting across Europe

Vascular smooth muscle cells enhance immune/vascular interplay in a 3-cell model of vascular inflammation

Atherosclerosis is a serious cardiovascular disease that is characterised by the development of atheroma, which are lipid-laden plaques that build up within arterial walls due to chronic inflammatory processes. These lesions are fundamentally attributed to a complex cellular crosstalk between vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), vascular endothelial cells (VECs) and central immune cells, such as macrophages (Mɸs), which promote vascular inflammation. The presence of VSMCs exerts both positive and negative effects during atheroma development, which can be attributed to their phenotypic plasticity. Understanding the interactions between these key cell types during the development of vascular inflammation and atheroma will enhance the scope for new therapeutic interventions. This study aims to determine the importance of VSMCs for shaping the extracellular cytokine/chemokine profile and transcriptional responses of VECs (human coronary artery endothelial cells; HCAECs) to activated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated THP1 Mɸs, in a 3-cell model of human vascular inflammation. It is evident that within the presence of VSMCs, enhanced cytokine production was associated with up-regulation of genes associated with vascular inflammation t. Results demonstrate that the presence of VSMCs in co-culture experiments enhanced cytokine production (including CXCL1/GROα, IL-6, IL-8 and CCL2/MCP1) and inflammatory gene expression (including genes involved in JAK/STAT, Jun and NFκB signalling) in HCAECs co-cultured with LPS-stimulated THP1 Mɸs. Our results highlight the importance of VSMCs in immune/endothelial cell interplay and indicate that 3-cell, rather than 2-cell co-culture, may be more appropriate for the study of cellular crosstalk between immune and vascular compartments in response to inflammatory and atherogenic stimuli

Assessment of the soils aplicability for the wood preservatives effectiveness against soft rotting micro-fungi in soil

Przedstawiono wyniki badań skuteczności dwóch środków ochrony drewna stosowanych w 4 klasie zagrożenia korozją biologiczną, czyli w kontakcie z gruntem. W badaniach wyznaczono nominalne skuteczne retencje środków metodą skryningową z użyciem gleby sztucznej - wermikulitu i w badaniu właściwym z użyciem gleby naturalnej. Badania prowadzono zgodnie z PN ENV 807. Podana w tej normie metoda pozwala określić wymaganą retencję środków w rocznych badaniach laboratoryjnych, Dotychczas badania takie, wykonywane według PN EN 252, wymagały pięcioletnich badań poligonowych.The paper deals with the test results of wood preservatives effectiveness against soft rotting micro-fungi and other soil inhabiting microorganisms for two wood preservative products being used in the 4th class of biological corrosion hazard. Test were carried out in accordance with PN ENV 807. This method allows to determine the required retention of products within one year laboratory tests, while in method based on PN-EN 252 the 5 years period of testing was necessary. The nominal effective retention was found for two wood preservative products by screening method with technical soil called vermiculite and by the test with natural soil

Estimation of seeding materials suitability in determlnation of biochemical oxygen demand in sewage

Biochemiczne zapotrzebowanie tlenu (BZT) jest jednym z parametrów kontrolowanych podczas określania skuteczności oczyszczania ścieków przez małe domowe oczyszczalnie. W badaniach BZT5 należy wstępnie przygotować próbki ścieków do analizy i rozcieńczyć je w różnym stosunku wodą do rozcieńczeń wzbogaconą tlenem i zawierającą zaszczep mikroorganizmów pochodzący z wody do zaszczepień. Przedmiotem badań był dobór materiału do zaszczepień zapewniający właściwy przebieg procesów biochemicznego utleniania. W badaniach wykorzystano wody pochodzące ze źródeł naturalnych, ścieki surowe ze studzienki na terenie ITB oraz ścieki surowe i oczyszczone z małej domowej oczyszczalni ścieków zainstalowanej pod Sochaczewem.Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is one of the parameters monitored during determination of effectiveness of small, household-based sewage treatment plants. In testing BOD5 procedure, the sevage samples, after initial preparation for analysis, are diluted in various proportion by dilution water, which is enriched with oxygen and also contains micro-organism seed coming from the seeding water. The subject of tests was to select the seeding materials, which would ensure the proper biochemical oxygenation process. The following samples were used during tests: water coming from natural springs, raw sewage taken from sewage well located in ITB premises, and raw sewage as well as treated sewage from a small, house-based sewage treatment plant near Sochaczew

Requirements for biocides used in construction industry

Środki ochrony drewna, farby, masy uszczelniające, kleje, spoiwa, materiały izolacyjne z tworzyw sztucznych zawierające substancje czynne, zapobiegające korozji biologicznej zaliczane są do produktów biobójczych. Sprzedaż i stosowanie takich produktów wymaga uzyskania pozwolenia na obrót wydanego przez Ministra Zdrowia. Przedstawiono wymagania, jakie muszą spełniać producenci, aby uzyskać takie pozwolenie.Biocides include wood protective agents, paints, sealing compounds, glues, adhesives and synthetic insulation materials containing active substances to prevent biological corrosion. Sale and use of such products requires obtaining a permit issued the Ministry of Health. The article presents the requirements that shall be met by products to obtain such permition

Reduction of phosphorus in sewage from household-based sewage treatment plants

Zawartość fosforu jest jednym z parametrów kontrolowanych podczas określania skuteczności oczyszczania ścieków przez małe przydomowe oczyszczalnie. Przedmiotem badań opisanych w artykule było oznaczanie fosforu ogólnego oraz wyznaczenie stopnia redukcji fosforu w ściekach oczyszczonych, pochodzących z takich oczyszczalni.Content of phosphorus is one of the parameters monitored during determination of effectiveness of small, household - based sewage treatment plants. The subject of tests described in the paper was to select the optimal parameters for the determination of total phosphorus after peroxodisulfate oxidation and to calculate the reduction index of phosphorus in treated sewage from house-based sewage treatment plant

Determination of phosphorus in sewage

Zawartość fosforu jest jednym z parametrów kontrolowanych podczas określania skuteczności oczyszczania ścieków przez małe domowe oczyszczalnie. Przedmiotem badań opisanych w artykule było wybranie optymalnych parametrów metody oznaczania fosforu ogólnego po utlenianiu nadtlenodwusiarczanem oraz wyznaczenie stopnia redukcji fosforu w ściekach oczyszczonych z małej przydomowej oczyszczalni ścieków zainstalowanej pod Łodzią i drugiej, znajdującej się na terenie ITB.Content of phosphorus is one of the parameters monitored during determination of effectiveness of small, household-based sewage treatment plants. The subject of tests described in this paper was to select the optimal parameters for determination of total phosphorus after peroxodisulfate oxidation and the calculation of phosphorus reduction index in treated sewage from household-based sewage treatment plant near Łódź and the other located in ITB

Estimation of the coat protection products effectiveness against mould fungi and alga

Występowanie mikroorganizmów na elewacjach jest związane z termomodernizacją obiektów i stosowaniem w systemach ociepleń polimerowych materiałów elewacyjnych. Aby wyeliminować korozję biologiczną, stosuje się materiały z dodatkami środków ochrony powłok przed glonami i pleśniami. W roku 2008 zostały wydane normy PN-EN 15457 i PN-EN 15458 pozwalające ocenić skuteczność działania tych środków. Badania według tych norm nie uwzględniają badań starzeniowych powłok, co w przypadku materiałów elewacyjnych może znacząco wpływać na ocenę odporności powłoki. W artykule porównano wyniki badań powłok malarskich i tynków poddawanych i nie poddawanych ługowaniu w wodzie.The appearance of microorganisms on the elevation is related to the thermal modernization of the construction works and with using polymeric elevation materials in these systems. To eliminate the biological corrosion, the materials with the addition of coat protection products against mould and fungi are used. In 2008 the PN-EN 15457 and PN-EN 15458 standards were emitted. They allow to estimate the effectiveness of those products. However, the tests carried out according to these standards are not taking into account the ageing tests of coats, what, in case of elevation materials may affect the reliable estimation of their resistance. Test results of paints and plasters submitted and not-submitted to leaching in water are compared in paper