Valutazione delle prestazioni fluidodinamiche di un catamarano con metodologie CFD in differenti configurazioni

Nel presente lavoro di tesi viene sviluppata una procedura generale per la simulazione CFD delle forze fluidodinamiche agenti sullo scafo del catamarano Dianae, durante la navigazione a differenti velocità e in presenza di mare calmo. Lo scopo principale di questo elaborato è stato quello di analizzare e successivamente migliorare la geometria dello scafo di Dianae, un innovativo catamarano dislocante, caratterizzato da una asimmetria interna dei due semi-scafi nella direzione longitudinale; tale asimmetria è data da una superficie esterna piana e una superficie interna formante un canale convergente-divergente. Si evidenzia che lo studio effettuato non tratta l’imbarcazione nella sua totalità, ma si pone lo scopo di indagare le forze fluidodinamiche agenti solamente sul corpo dell’imbarcazione (senza prendere in considerazione la sovrastruttura). L’obiettivo di tale procedura è quello di determinare una nuova geometria dello scafo tale da minimizzare la forza di resistenza all’avanzamento e di risolvere i problemi riscontrati sulla geometria assegnata in partenza. Le geometrie CAD dell’imbarcazione sono state realizzate mediante il software CATIA® V5R21 della Dassault Systemes. Per le analisi fluidodinamiche delle varie configurazioni di prova si è utilizzato Star-CCM+® v10.04.008 R8 della CD-adapco

A smart building material for low/zero carbon applications: heat insulation solar glass—characteristic results from laboratory andin situtests

Heat insulation solar glass (HISG) is a recently developed smart building material to minimize energy consumption of building sector. HISG might be presumed to be a conventional photovoltaic glazing product; however, it is completely unique by having some characteristic features such as superior thermal insulation, which is competitive with triple-glazed windows using argon as inert gas, acoustic and thermal comfort, self-cleaning ability owing to TiO2 nano-coating on module surface and extraordinary energy saving potential in both summer and winter. In our previous works, comprehensive experimental and numerical works have been carried out for power generation and thermal insulation performance of HISG under various climatic conditions. Within the scope of this research, optical- and lighting-related performance parameters of this smart building material are evaluated through extensive laboratory and in situ tests. Shading coefficient, visible light intensity, and UV and IR penetration are investigated via the tests conducted in real operating conditions. It is achieved from the results that the shading coefficient of HISG is only 0.136, which yields almost 80% reduction in solar heat gain compared with ordinary glazing. It is also observed from the in situ tests that HISG has a %100 UV and 99% IR blocking rate, which is of vital importance in terms of human health and thermal comfort conditions. Glaring effects are totally resolved via HISG, which is still a challenge for the buildings with conventional glazing products, especially in summer

Investigation on the performance of air source heat pump system with new environment friendly refrigerants for a low carbon building

Energy is an important development factor. It is consumed in different format from different sources in daily human activities. Solar energy, as the most fundamental renewable energy resource, serves in a clean, domestic and environmentally friendly way with minimum impact on surroundings. Due to the ability of transferring heat from low temperature to high temperature, heat pump systems can make great use of natural resources and waste heat resources for the purpose of space heating. Based upon this theoretical principle, this paper presents an investigation on the performance of air source heat pump (ASHP) system with new environment friendly refrigerants, such as R1233zd(E), R1234YF, R1234ze(Z) and R1234ze(E). At the same time, some conventional refrigerants (R134a, R245fa and R123) have been investigated as well for results comparison. A MATLAB program has been developed with the assistance of the database of CoolProp. The results show that the use of some selected environment friendly refrigerants in air source heat pump system for building application alongside other refrigeration applications in strongly recommended

Theoretical investigation of soil-based thermal energy storage system for greenhouses

In this short communication, a novel thermal energy storage system for greenhouses is presented. The novel system is based on directly heating a particular mass of soil through the solar power and utilizing the energy stored in critical months such as November, December, January and February. The target mass of soil is placed beneath the greenhouse with a height of 2m and the boundaries are well-insulated via vacuum insulation panels to provide adiabatic conditions yielding to no heat loss from the edges. Through electric heaters placed inside the target mass of soil, thermal energy is stored inside the soil via the power coming from photovoltaic (PV) panels fixed on the roof of the greenhouse. A specific thin film PV glazing technology called heat insulation solar glass (HISG) is preferred for the power input to the greenhouse. As the first aim of the research, heating demand of the greenhouse is determined for each month. Temperature difference and overall heat transfer coefficient between indoor and outdoor environment are considered to be independent variables in the analyses. Secondly, soil-based thermal energy storage system is introduced and its potential contribution to the heating demand is discussed. The preliminary results indicate that the soil mass is a dominant parameter in soil temperature and hence the thermal energy storage capacity. For a soil mass of 250 tonne, around 600K soil temperature is achieved by the end of year, which is very remarkable

Recent passive technologies of greenhouse systems: a review

There are 130 countries produces greenhouse vegetables commercially with more than 1.1 million acres in 2016. Most of the greenhouses deal with high operating costs due to the great energy needs. The high heat loss because of the greenhouse envelope material is responsible for the high energy demand in greenhouses. Nevertheless, each area having a specific need which affects to the energy level and conventional greenhouse technologies tend to have poor U-values. It causes energy for heating is very dominant up to 85% of the total greenhouse energy demand in cold climates countries. While, for the hot climate countries the energy for cooling is more prevalent. Therefore, this paper presents the latest technological developments used in greenhouses in various countries used to control the microclimate in the greenhouse focusing on passive techniques. It is found that PCM recently used to provide heating and cooling for Mediterranean climate. Moreover, closed greenhouse concept based system for Northern climatic improves the reduction energy demands by 80% with a potential payback of 6 years. Additionally, for most countries double glazing envelopes to be the most frequently powerful to increase the greenhouse performance

The effect of school-based physical activity interventions on body mass index: a meta-analysis of randomized trials

This study reviewed the effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions aimed at reducing overweight, obesity and hypertension in children. We searched 14 databases and analyzed studies published between April 2009 and September 2012. Only randomized controlled trials performed at the school level that included elements of physical activity but did not include nutritional co-interventions were analyzed. Studies were assessed by two recommended tools (EPHPP and GRADE), and the standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were collected for a random-effect meta-analysis. A total of 12 papers were included in the meta-analysis, and these were divided according to three outcomes: body mass index (11 trials, n  =  4,273, −0.02, 95% CI: −0.13 to 0.17, p  =  0.8); body weight (5 trials, n  =  1,330, −0.07, 95% CI: −0.18 to 0.04, p  =  0.2); and blood pressure (6 trials, n  =  1,549), including systolic (0.11, 95% CI: −0.10 to 0.31, p  =  0.3) and diastolic pressure (−0.00, 95% CI: −0.10 to 0.10, p  =  0.9). This meta-analysis of data from 11 randomized, school-based physical activity interventions suggests that, regardless of the potential benefits of physical activity in the school environment, the interventions did not have a statistically significant effect. However, it is difficult to generalize from these results because the duration, intensity and type of physical activity used in the interventions varied greatly.Cotas do Programa de Pos-Graduacao do Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Universidade de São Paulo Hospital das Clinicas Faculdade de MedicinaFederal University of São PauloFederal University of São Paulo Pediatrics Department, NutrologyUNIFESP, Pediatrics Department, Nutrology09/12438-5SciEL

La salud cardiovascular: concepciones de los docentes e integración en el currículum

Cardiovascular health: teachers conceptions and curriculum integration We presented a qualitative study to understand the procedures, elaboration and teaching practice in relation to the promotion of cardiovascular health in public schools in Sao Paulo (Brazil) as well as the difficulties that make the teaching of such content so hard since the integrated perspective. To do so, thirty-two teachers from various disciplines (science, mathematics, language, art, geography, etc.) who develop their work in eight schools in the west of Sao Paulo were interviewed. Our results indicate that the promotion of cardiovascular health is not present in what teachers prepare in their classes, although they have ideas about how they could work with themLa santé cardiovasculaire: les conception des enseignants et leur intégration dans le curriculum Nous présentons une étude qualitative pour connaître la conception et la pratique des enseignants quant à la promotion de la santé cardiovasculaire au sein des écoles publiques de São Paulo (Brésil), de même que les obstacles difficultant l’enseignement de ces contenus dès la perspective intégrée et avec des méthodologies fondées sur des recherches menées par les élèves. A cette intention, trente-deux professeurs de plusieurs disciplines (sciences, mathématiques, langues, arts, géographie, etc.) travaillant en huit écoles de la région ouest de São Paulo ont été interviewés. Nos résultats indiquent que la promotion de la santé cardiovasculaire (alimentation équilibrée, activité physique, abstinence de tabac et d’alcool) ne figure pas sur la grille des disciplines que le professeurs développent, encore qu’ils aient des idées sur la façon de faire cette approch

Low/Zero-Carbon Buildings for a Sustainable Future

Fossil fuel-based energy consumption is still dominant in the world today, and there is a consensus on the limited reserves of these energy resources. Therefore, there is a strong stimulation into clean energy technologies to narrow the gap between fossil fuels and renewables. In this respect, several commitments and codes are proposed and adopted for a low energy-consuming world and for desirable environmental conditions. Sectoral energy consumption analyses clearly indicate that buildings are of vital importance in terms of energy consumption figures. From this point of view, buildings have a great potential for decisive and urgent reduction of energy consumption levels and thus greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among the available retrofit solutions, greenery systems (GSs) stand for a reliable, cost-effective and eco-friendly method for remarkablemitigation of energy consumed in buildings. Through the works comparing the thermal regulation performance of uninsulated and green roofs, it is observed that the GS provides 20°C lower surface temperature in operation. Similar to green roofs, vertical greenery systems (VGSs) also reduce energy demand to approximately 25% as a consequence of wind blockage effects in winter. Therefore, within the scope of this chapter, GSs are evaluated for a reliable and effective retrofit solution toward low/zero carbon buildings (L/ZCBs)

Mortality associated with the use of inappropiate drugs according Beers Criteria: a systematic review

The aims of this systematic review are to identify and analyse the scientist literature available evidence about the use of potentially inappropriate medications, according to the Beers Criteria, that is associated with mortality in the elderly people.It have been made a search of publications in most traditional electronic databases among the scientific community (Pubmed / Medline, EMBASE and Web of Science) and it have been selected publications that obey the criteria of 'observational study', 'elderly' and 'Beers Criteria' and that they had as a result the mortality of the study population .After publications selection it proceeded to dump data by two researchers independently to avoid selection bias. The methodological quality of the selected studies was assessed by the checklist Newcastle-Ottawa. The final sample of this systematic review has been made up of 17 studies published in Pubmed and Embase databases majority, 8 of which make up the meta-analysis. In descriptive synthesis has been observed that most of the studies have a level of evidence IV (94'1%) with cohortdelineation (94'1%) and non-probability sampling technique (70'6%).Data collection was prospective in 58'8% of cases, with a sample (n) greater than 1000 elderly (64'7%) and followed up for 6 to 12 months (52'9%).The meta-analysis involving 90.611 elders informed that users who take inappropriate drug according to the Beers Criteria had a higher relative risk for mortality outcome (RR = 1.11, 95% CI 1'01-1'22 P = 0'023), regardless of study stage, comorbidity presence, polypharmacy or type of inappropriate medication used

Major depression in patients with non-cardiac chest pain: Who is going to treat?

OBJETIVO: Investigar a presença de transtornos psiquiátricos em pacientes com dor torácica de origem não cardíaca que não respondem aos tratamentos regulares. MÉTODO: Dezoito pacientes com dor torácica sem origem cardíaca e considerados por seus clínicos como não respondentes aos tratamentos regulares instituídos foram avaliados por um psiquiatra treinado. As entrevistas foram realizadas com base no Present State Examination e os diagnósticos psiquiá-tricos, de acordo com os critérios do Manual de Diagnóstico e Estatística da Associação Psiquiátrica Americana, 3ª Edição Revisada (DSM-III-R). RESULTADOS: Depressão maior no momento da avaliação foi diagnosticada em 6 (30%) pacientes, somatização em 1 (6%) e transtorno do pânico em 1 (6%) paciente. Sete pacientes estavam recebendo antidepressivos tricíclicos com doses < 75 mg/dia. CONCLUSÕES: A baixa dose de ADTs usadas para o tratamento da dor nesses pacientes pode ter melhorado parcialmente os sintomas depressivos, tornando mais difíceis o diagnóstico e o tratamento apropriado(s) da depressão e, assim, contribuindo para a persistência da dor e outras queixas. As futuras pesquisas deverão focalizar a eficácia do tratamento da depressão nesses pacientes e o impacto deste no alívio da dor torácica não cardíaca.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence of psychiatric disorders in patients with chest pain not responsive to treatment. METHOD: We evaluated 18 patients judged by their physicians to have a chest pain not responsive to usual treatment, which included anti-pain medicines and investigation and treatment of possible etiological causes such as coronary artery disease, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. A psychiatrist interviewed the patients using the Present State Examination and made the diagnosis based on the DSM-III-R criteria. Current major depression was diagnosed in 6 (30%) patients, somatization in 1 (6%) and panic disorder in 1 (6%) patient. Seven patients were receiving tricyclics antidepressant with doses > 75 mg/day. DISCUSSION: Patients were receiving doses of tricyclics antidepressants efficacious for pain but not for major depression. It is possible that the low dose of antidepressants used to treat pain may partially ameliorate depressive symptoms, making the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of major depression even more difficult, consequently contributing to the persistence of pain and other complains. Considering the wide alternatives to effectively treat depression, a focus on detection and treatment of major depression in patients with chest pain is warranted by clinicians and researchers