USERS’ ASSESSMENT OF PERSONAL FANS IN A WARM OFFICE SPACE IN BRAZIL

The use of personal fans allows improving thermal comfort and energy savings in warm office spaces. This is due to individual adjustment and extended indoor temperature acceptability. However, to achieve that, the usability of fans must be assured. Therefore, an experiment with 40 people of various age groups was carried out to assess four types of fans, one of which is an evaporative cooling device. The goal was to find out which criteria should be used for selecting a fan to implement in an office space. Results show that airflow sensation and speed adjustment are considered the most important, although, noise is also very important, and cost can be an eliminatory criterion. The evaporative device was the best rated even in a space with 70 to 80% relative humidity, as users considered it to have a smooth controllable airflow. The results highlight these aspects should be considered in the selection of a personal fan and could also drive the industry to improve fans design for increasing usability and expanding the use of these systems

IL-23–responsive innate lymphoid cells are increased in inflammatory bowel disease

Increased numbers of innate lymphoid cells in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

International audienc

Air Quality and Health-Related Impacts of Traditional and Alternate Jet Fuels From Airport Aircraft Operations in the U.S.

13-C-AJFF-UNC-010, 012This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Please cite this article as: Calvin A. Arter, Jonathan J. Buonocore, Chowdhury Moniruzzaman, Dongmei Yang, Jiaoyan Huang, Saravanan Arunachalam, Air quality and health-related impacts of traditional and alternate jet fuels from airport aircraft operations in the U.S., Environment International, Volume 158, 2022, 106958, ISSN 0160-4120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106958.Aviation emissions from landing and takeoff operations (LTO) can degrade local and regional air quality leading to adverse health outcomes in populations near airports and downwind. In this study we aim to quantify the air quality and health-related impacts from commercial LTO emissions in the continental U.S. for two recent years\u2019 inventories, 2011 and 2016. We quantify the LTO-attributable PM2.5, O3, and NO2 concentrations and health outcomes for mortality and multiple morbidity health endpoints. We also quantify the impacts from two scenarios representing a nation-wide implementation of 5% or 50% blends of sustainable alternative jet fuels. We estimate 80 (68\u201393) and 88 (75\u2013100) PM2.5-attributable and 610 (310\u2013920) and 1,100 (570\u20131,700) NO2- attributable premature mortalities in 2011 and 2016, respectively. We estimate a net decrease of 28 (14\u201356) and 54 (27\u2013110) in O3-attributable premature mortalities across the U.S. in 2011 and 2016, respectively due to the large O3 titration effects near the airports. We also find that the asthma exacerbations due to NO2 exposures from LTO emissions increase from 100,000 (2,500\u2013200,000) in 2011 to 170,000 (4,400\u2013340,000) in 2016. Implementing a 5% or 50% blend of sustainable alternative jet fuel in 2016 results in a 1% or 18% reduction, respectively in PM2.5-attributable premature mortalities. Monetizing the value of avoided total premature mortalities, we find that a 50%-blended sustainable alternative jet fuel results in a 19% decrease in PM2.5 damages per ton of fuel burned and a 2% decrease in total damages per ton of fuel burned as compared to damages from traditional jet fuel. We also quantify health impacts by state and find California to be the most impacted by LTO emissions. We find that LTO-attributable PM2.5 and NO2 premature mortalities increase by 10% and 80%, respectively from 2011 to 2016 and that NO2-attributable premature mortalities are responsible for 91% of total LTO-attributable premature mortalities in both 2011 and 2016. And since we find LTO-attributable NO2 to be unaffected by the implementation of sustainable alternative jet fuels, additional approaches focused on NOX reductions in the combustor are needed to mitigate the air quality-related health impacts from LTO emissions

Análise das condições de conforto térmico no clima quente e úmido de São Luís (MA): estudos de campo em salas de aula naturalmente ventiladas e climatizadas

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Florianópolis, 2018.Esta pesquisa visa a investigação acerca das condições de aceitabilidade e conforto térmico humano em salas de aula naturalmente ventiladas controladas por seus ocupantes, no contexto do clima tropical equatorial quente-úmido da cidade de São Luís (Maranhão, Brasil). Nesse contexto, os usuários de ambientes naturalmente ventilados apresentam-se suscetíveis ao desconforto por calor, tendo em vista as elevadas temperatura e umidade do ar interno, o que provoca a demanda por maior movimento do ar nesses espaços. Com o objetivo de avaliar a influência das variáveis ambientais internas (temperatura operativa, umidade relativa do ar e velocidade do ar) na percepção térmica dos ocupantes, foram realizados estudos de campo em salas de aula do Curso de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão (CAU/UEMA), divididos em duas etapas: nos períodos letivos de março e abril de 2017 (estação quente e chuvosa) e de setembro e outubro de 2017 (estação quente e seca). Os estudos de campo consistiram em medições de variáveis ambientais internas in loco, em paralelo à aplicação de questionários para a avaliação do ambiente térmico e do movimento do ar, no decorrer das aulas. Além das salas de aula naturalmente ventiladas, ambientes climatizados por ar condicionado também foram incorporados à pesquisa, uma vez que ofereceram outras condições de temperatura e umidade (amostra de comparação). Obtiveram-se, no total, 2680 votos de percepção térmica, sendo 1650 em ambientes naturalmente ventilados e 1030 em ambientes com ar condicionado ativo. O cruzamento entre os votos de percepção térmica e as variáveis ambientais, para a amostra em salas naturalmente ventiladas, resultou em maior influência da temperatura operativa sobre a percepção térmica dos estudantes, e maior influência da velocidade do ar sobre a avaliação do movimento do ar. A umidade relativa do ar teve impacto negativo sobre os votos de percepção térmica quando a temperatura operativa foi superior a 30 °C, ao passo que a velocidade do ar teve papel fundamental na redução do desconforto térmico por calor, conforme esperado. A condição de 80% de aceitabilidade térmica foi atingida a uma combinação de 31 °C de temperatura operativa e de no mínimo 0,20 m/s de velocidade do ar. A condição de 80% de conforto térmico, por sua vez, foi verificada a 30 °C com, no mínimo, 1 m/s de velocidade do ar. Os resultados indicaram grande aceitação das condições internas de calor e a importante influência das variáveis ambientais estudadas sobre a percepção térmica dos estudantes nos espaços naturalmente ventilados em questão.Abstract : This research aims to investigate human thermal acceptability and comfort conditions in naturally ventilated classrooms controlled by their occupants, considering the hot-humid equatorial tropical climate of São Luís (Maranhão, Brazil) city. In this context, users of naturally ventilated environments are susceptible to heat discomfort, due to high temperature and humidity of the air, therefore demanding greater air movement in these spaces. In order to evaluate the influence of internal environmental variables (operative temperature, relative air humidity and air velocity) on occupant s thermal perception, field studies were conducted in the classrooms of Universidade Estadual do Maranhão university, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (CAU/UEMA), divided into two campaings: March and April 2017 (hot and rainy season) and September and October 2017 (hot and dry season). The field studies consisted in measuring internal environmental variables in loco and applying questionnaires for thermal environment and air movement evaluation during the classes. In addition to the naturally ventilated classrooms, air-conditioned rooms were also incorporated into the research, since they offered different temperature and humidity conditions (comparison sample). A total of 2680 thermal perception votes were obtained: 1650 in naturally ventilated environments and 1030 in air conditioned environments. The cross-tabulations between thermal perception votes and environmental variables, for the naturally ventilated sample, resulted in a greater influence of operative temperature on student s thermal perception, and greater influence of air velocity on air movement evaluation. Relative air humidity had significant negative impact on thermal perception votes when operative temperature was above 30 °C, while the air velocity played a key role in reducing thermal discomfort by heat, as expected. The 80% thermal acceptability condition was reached at a combination of 31 °C operative temperature and air velocity of at least 0.20 m/s. The condition of 80% thermal comfort was verified at 30 °C with air velocity of at least 1 m/s. The results indicated great acceptance of internal conditions and the influence of environmental variables over student s thermal perception in these naturally ventilated spaces

Interleukin-23 Restrains Regulatory T Cell Activity to Drive T Cell-Dependent Colitis

Interleukin-23 (IL-23) is an inflammatory cytokine that plays a key role in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It orchestrates innate and T cell-mediated inflammatory pathways and can promote T helper 17 (Th17) cell responses. Utilizing a T cell transfer model, we showed that IL-23-dependent colitis did not require IL-17 secretion by T cells. Furthermore, IL-23-independent intestinal inflammation could develop if immunosuppressive pathways were reduced. The frequency of naive T cell-derived Foxp3+ cells in the colon increased in the absence of IL-23, indicating a role for IL-23 in controlling regulatory T cell induction. Foxp3-deficient T cells induced colitis when transferred into recipients lacking IL-23p19, showing that IL-23 was not essential for intestinal inflammation in the absence of Foxp3. Taken together, our data indicate that overriding immunosuppressive pathways is an important function of IL-23 in the intestine and could influence not only Th17 cell activity but also other types of immune responses

A comparison of microhardness of indirect composite restorative materials Estudo comparativo da microdureza de materiais resinosos indiretos

The purpose of this study was to compare the microhardness of four indirect composite resins. Forty cylindrical samples were prepared according to the manufacturer’s recommendations using a Teflon mold. Ten specimens were produced from each tested material, constituting four groups (n=10) as follows: G1 - Artglass; G2 - Sinfony; G3 - Solidex; G4 - Targis. Microhardness was determined by the Vickers indentation technique with a load of 300g for 10 seconds. Four indentations were made on each sample, determining the mean microhardness values for each specimen. Descriptive statistics data for the experimental conditions were: G1 - Artglass (mean ±&#61472;standard deviation: 55.26 ± 1.15HVN; median: 52.6); G2 - Sinfony (31.22 ± 0.65HVN; 31.30); G3 - Solidex (52.25 ± 1.55HVN; 52.60); G4 - Targis (72.14 ± 2.82HVN; 73.30). An exploratory data analysis was performed to determine the most appropriate statistical test through: (I) Levene's for homogeneity of variances; (II) ANOVA on ranks (Kruskal-Wallis); (III) Dunn's multiple comparison test (0.05). Targis presented the highest microhardness values while Sinfony presented the lowest. Artglass and Solidex were found as intermediate materials. These results indicate that distinct mechanical properties may be observed at specific materials. The composition of each material as well as variations on polymerization methods are possibly responsibles for the difference found in microhardness. Therefore, indirect composite resin materials that guarantee both good esthetics and adequate mechanical properties may be considered as substitutes of natural teeth.<br>O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar a microdureza de 4 resinas compostas indiretas. Quarenta amostras cilíndricas foram obtidas com o auxílio de uma matriz de teflon, seguindo-se as recomendações dos fabricantes. Foram obtidas 10 amostras para cada material testado, contituindo-se 4 grupos (n=10) como se segue: G1-Artglass; G2-Sinfony; G3-Solidex; G4-Targis. A microdureza foi determinada pela técnica da indentação Vickers com uma carga de 300g por 10 segundos. Quatro indentações foram realizadas em cada amostra, obtendo-se um valor médio. Os dados da análise estatística descritiva para cada condição experimental foram: G1-Artglass (média ± desvio padrão:55,26 ± 1,15HVN; mediana: 52,6); G2- Sinfony (31,22 ± 0,65HVN; 31,30); G3- Solidex (52,25 ± 1,55HVN; 52,60); G4- Targis (72,14 ± 2,82HVN; 73,30). Uma análise exploratória dos dados foi realizada para determinar o teste estatístico mais apropriado: (I) Teste de Levene para variâncias homogêneas; (II) Teste de ANOVA (Kruskal-Wallis); (III) Teste de comparação múltipla de Dunn. O Targis apresentou os maiores valores de microdureza, enquanto que o Sinfony apresentou os menores valores. O Artglass e o Solidex se comportaram como materiais intermediários. Estes resultados indicaram que propriedades mecânicas distintas podem ser observadas nos materiais. A composição de cada material, bem como as variações nos métodos de polimerização são possivelmente responsáveis pelas diferenças observadas na microdureza. Portanto, materiais resinosos indiretos que garantam estética e propriedades mecânicas satisfatórias podem ser considerados como substitutos dos dentes naturais