An Examination of a New Interior Lighting Design Methodology Using Mean Room Surface Exitance

This paper disseminates both new and previously-published findings to show how a whole new lighting design system can be easily implemented, whereby interior lighting is designed for appearance rather than visual performance alone. This paper presents the findings of multiple PhD research undertaken in the Dublin Institute of Technology that started in 2011 and continues. This paper is presented for a building services engineering audience and emphasises why there is a need for change, what it is that is proposed, the implications for existing practice, the benefits of the new design methodology, and the challenges remaining before it can be fully adopted in practice. Evidence is provided in this paper that MRSE is a better metric than horizontal illuminance in measuring people’s perceived adequacy of illumination in a room. Proof of concept is evidenced with respect to ensuring software can be easily developed for design using MRSE and in measuring MRSE easily in installations using HDR imaging. Typical values of MRSE in existing installations are presented

Supporting a circular economy strategy in South Tyrol, Italy: Integrated life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas analysis

The research project “Strategy for Circular Economy in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano” aimed at providing the Province of Bolzano (South Tyrol, northern Italy), with materials and tools to support the design of an integrated regional strategy for Circular Economy (CE). The project focused on synergies between the bioeconomy and the built environment, due to their local relevance and to their significant potential in the transition to a CE. In particular, the project illustrated the application of a set of analytical tools to evaluate and support the design, development and implementation of CE strategies. In 2015, forestry and agriculture sectors were associated with about 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Province, compared to 2% in Italy (ASTAT, 2021). The project analyses illustrate how the integration of different tools can be used to estimate the potential benefits and impacts of the exchange and valorisation of co-products and waste from agriculture and forestry activities, in construction materials and products. The analyses included: (1) a spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS); (2) a simplified material flow analysis (MFA) of the residential building stock; and (3) a streamlined life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis comparing wood fibre and expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation. The spatial analysis consisted of an estimate and mapping of potentially available biomass from forestry and agricultural activities, using land-use data – namely the area of agricultural land for three types of crops (feed crops, fruit, and vineyards) – and literature-based coefficients on generation of wood-based biomass from these three types of crops. The MFA estimated annual material inputs and outputs of the residential building stock in the Province, providing a simplified characterization of raw material construction requirements and demolition waste. The evaluation considered literature-based coefficients on: renovation and demolition rates, generation of waste per renovated/demolished surface, material separation factors and composition of waste. Different scenarios were established to account for variability in the intensity of construction and demolition activities. Lastly, a streamline life-cycle energy and GHG analysis comparing wood fibre and expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation was performed. The analysis considered a cradle-to-gate perspective and, as functional unit, the insulation of a 1 m2 surface with a thermal resistance of 1 m2 K/W, across a service life of 50 years, and estimated the potential primary non-renewable energy (NRE) requirements and GHG emissions, with a 100-year time horizon. The analysis of potentially available biomass in the Province estimated and mapped an annual generation of (i) about 88 000 tons of residual biomass from agricultural activities, and (ii) about 465 000 m3 of residual biomass from forestry activities/management. Regarding construction and demolition waste, 7 000 - 12 000 tons of wood waste were estimated, which could have valuable potential if properly separated from mineral components and recovered. The LC analysis showed a potential reduction of 40-60% in NRE and 15-40% in GHG emissions, depending on the electricity mix considered (national or regional), if locally produced wood fibre insulation was used to replace EPS. It is important to highlight that the analyses were strongly limited by data unavailability; however, they had an illustrative and awareness-raising nature and complemented a participatory approach involving a range of local stakeholders across relevant economic sectors. Moreover, the project supported the creation of a regional competence centre for circular economy, which shall further develop the knowledge and tools to enable the transition to a CE in the Province, including the creation of an online trading platform for exchange of resources. Reference: ASTAT - Statistic Institute of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano: Income statement of the province of Bolzano - 2010-2019 and 2020 estimate. Available on: https://astat.provincia.bz.it/. Accessed 20 December 2021

Experimental Evaluation of Metallic Coating on Polymer by Cold Spray

n/

Selection of Optimal Process Parameters for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

Abstract This paper is about the optimal selection of process parameters for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing technology, an emerging solution for additive production of metal parts. In particular, the selection of the process parameters is based on the evolution of the microstructure and on the mechanical properties of the final samples obtained through the successive deposition weld beads of a ER70S-6 steel, according to the AWS legislation. The feed rate and the heat input during the deposition of the weld beads have been varied, in order to understand how the temperature reached by the samples can affect the final product mechanical characteristics. The final cooling has been carried in calm air at room temperature and between the deposition of a weld bead and the following one it has been imposed a pause of 60s. The tests on mechanical properties carried out have been: A full experimental campaign that includes: macrographic observations, micrographic observations and Vickers microhardness. The analysis of these tests has highligthed that by varying the process parameters, the samples do not have substantial differences between them. Instead, a microstructure that evolves from pearlitic-ferritic grains until bainitic lamellae along the vertical direction of the samples has been observed by micrographic analysis and confirmed by microhardness measurements

Serum Albumin Is Inversely Associated With Portal Vein Thrombosis in Cirrhosis

We analyzed whether serum albumin is independently associated with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in liver cirrhosis (LC) and if a biologic plausibility exists. This study was divided into three parts. In part 1 (retrospective analysis), 753 consecutive patients with LC with ultrasound-detected PVT were retrospectively analyzed. In part 2, 112 patients with LC and 56 matched controls were entered in the cross-sectional study. In part 3, 5 patients with cirrhosis were entered in the in vivo study and 4 healthy subjects (HSs) were entered in the in vitro study to explore if albumin may affect platelet activation by modulating oxidative stress. In the 753 patients with LC, the prevalence of PVT was 16.7%; logistic analysis showed that only age (odds ratio [OR], 1.024; P = 0.012) and serum albumin (OR, -0.422; P = 0.0001) significantly predicted patients with PVT. Analyzing the 112 patients with LC and controls, soluble clusters of differentiation (CD)40-ligand (P = 0.0238), soluble Nox2-derived peptide (sNox2-dp; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (P = 0.0078) were higher in patients with LC. In LC, albumin was correlated with sCD4OL (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient [r(s)], -0.33; P < 0.001), sNox2-dp (r(s), -0.57; P < 0.0001), and urinary excretion of isoprostanes (r(s), -0.48; P < 0.0001) levels. The in vivo study showed a progressive decrease in platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and urinary 8-iso prostaglandin F2 alpha-III formation 2 hours and 3 days after albumin infusion. Finally, platelet aggregation, sNox2-dp, and isoprostane formation significantly decreased in platelets from HSs incubated with scalar concentrations of albumin. Conclusion: Low serum albumin in LC is associated with PVT, suggesting that albumin could be a modulator of the hemostatic system through interference with mechanisms regulating platelet activation

Prescription appropriateness of anti-diabetes drugs in elderly patients hospitalized in a clinical setting: evidence from the REPOSI Register

Diabetes is an increasing global health burden with the highest prevalence (24.0%) observed in elderly people. Older diabetic adults have a greater risk of hospitalization and several geriatric syndromes than older nondiabetic adults. For these conditions, special care is required in prescribing therapies including anti- diabetes drugs. Aim of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness and the adherence to safety recommendations in the prescriptions of glucose-lowering drugs in hospitalized elderly patients with diabetes. Data for this cross-sectional study were obtained from the REgistro POliterapie-Società Italiana Medicina Interna (REPOSI) that collected clinical information on patients aged ≥ 65 years acutely admitted to Italian internal medicine and geriatric non-intensive care units (ICU) from 2010 up to 2019. Prescription appropriateness was assessed according to the 2019 AGS Beers Criteria and anti-diabetes drug data sheets.Among 5349 patients, 1624 (30.3%) had diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. At admission, 37.7% of diabetic patients received treatment with metformin, 37.3% insulin therapy, 16.4% sulfonylureas, and 11.4% glinides. Surprisingly, only 3.1% of diabetic patients were treated with new classes of anti- diabetes drugs. According to prescription criteria, at admission 15.4% of patients treated with metformin and 2.6% with sulfonylureas received inappropriately these treatments. At discharge, the inappropriateness of metformin therapy decreased (10.2%, P < 0.0001). According to Beers criteria, the inappropriate prescriptions of sulfonylureas raised to 29% both at admission and at discharge. This study shows a poor adherence to current guidelines on diabetes management in hospitalized elderly people with a high prevalence of inappropriate use of sulfonylureas according to the Beers criteria

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries

FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study covers a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee) and an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), which could, successively, be installed in the same 100 km tunnel. The scientific capabilities of the integrated FCC programme would serve the worldwide community throughout the 21st century. The FCC study also investigates an LHC energy upgrade, using FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the second volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the electron-positron collider FCC-ee. After summarizing the physics discovery opportunities, it presents the accelerator design, performance reach, a staged operation scenario, the underlying technologies, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, and an implementation plan. FCC-ee can be built with today’s technology. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure could be reused for FCC-hh. Combining concepts from past and present lepton colliders and adding a few novel elements, the FCC-ee design promises outstandingly high luminosity. This will make the FCC-ee a unique precision instrument to study the heaviest known particles (Z, W and H bosons and the top quark), offering great direct and indirect sensitivity to new physics

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics