Simulated Versus Monitored Building Behaviours: Sample Demo Applications of a Perfomance Gap Detection Tool in a Northern Italian Climate

Green building technologies and design-correlated choices may significantly contribute to supporting the transition toward net energy flows in the built environment. Nevertheless, large discrepancies are underlined between standard simulated and monitored building behaviours requiring approaches able to simply correlate real building behaviours and simulated ones to further support coherent certification and/or optimization. The paper focusses on the application of a semi-automatic methodology to compare and evaluate thermal behaviours of buildings considering monitored and simulated data. The approach is based on a new Python tool developed by the authors, able to manage EnergyPlus inputs and perform multi-source KPIs calculations. The mentioned tool is used here to support semi-automatic model verifications of real weather data by optimizing model parameters to fit monitored behaviours. The approach is applied in this chapter to two demo buildings, a municipality school and a residential unit, located in the Turin metropolitan area of Piedmont, in Northwest Italy

Thermal Comfort and Climatic Potential of Ventilative Cooling in Italian Climates

The chapter describes several climate-correlated variables and suitable key performance indicators (KPIs) to define the local ventilative cooling potential. Furthermore, a methodology is presented to verify potential correlations between climate KPIs and indoor comfort parameters. The latter values are calculated by adopting dynamic energy simulations (EnergyPlus) and comfort models – both Fanger (ISO 7730) and the recently updated EU adaptive comfort approach (EN 16798-1) – considering a sample building unit. Simulations are run by using a parametric-enabling tool developed by the research unit to check correlations and is part of work performed for the PRELUDE project, co-funded by the EU, Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 958345. The approach is applied to the whole Italian territory considering typical yearly (hourly defined) meteorological conditions for all municipalities (about 8000 data points). Strong connections between climate and building KPIs are underlined together with the high potential of ventilative cooling in reducing discomfort and energy needs in the Italian territory

Roller Speed Skating Kinematics and Electromyographic Analysis: A Methodological Approach

Roller speed skating is a discipline similar to hockey and ice skating from a biomechanical point of view, but there are no specific functional protocols for rehabilitation and performance improvement for these athletes. The aim of the study is to create a dedicated functional, kinematic and electromyographic protocol to be used as a tool for future studies on the subject. The protocol was created, starting from a correct and repeatable movement as a case study, on a world speed skating champion, using an inertial sensor positioned at the level of the first sacral vertebra, eight electromyographic probes positioned on one or the other lower limb, and a high-definition camera at 50 Hz. The results show the electromyographic activity of the muscles investigated, the degree of absolute muscle activation and compared to their maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), the level of co-activation of the agonist/antagonist muscles, and the accelerations of the body on the three axes of space. The results will represent the basis for physiotherapy and specific training use. Future developments will include the analysis of a sample of elite athletes to be able to build a normal range on the parameters investigated, and the possibility of treating in the most appropriate way possible muscle injuries (which mostly occur in the groin in such athletes) once they have occurred, even with oriented MVIC or co-activation oriented exercises

Energy simulation platform supporting building design and management

The paper describes specific usage scenarios of an innovative platform, interfacing users, monitoring, and simulations for building energy simulations and the computation of key performance indicators to support, in an interoperable and open vision, design and management choices exploiting the enabling capabilities of ICT in architecture. The modularity of the proposed solution allows the development of pre-defined usage scenarios for professionals: impact of modifications in technological design choices, model calibration, and performance gap between simulated and monitored building data. The paper faces some new architectural usage scenarios of the tool, considering its enabling capabilities, and focuses on the tool’s components developed and tested in the EU H2020 E-DYCE project

Congenital mirror movements in a new Italian family

Mirror movements (MMs) occur on the contralateral side of a limb being used intentionally. Because few families with congenital MMs and no other neurological signs have been reported, the underlying mechanisms of MMs are still not entirely clear. We report on the clinical, genetic, neurophysiological and neuroimaging findings of 10 of 26 living members of a novel four-generation family with congenital MMs. DCC and RAD51 were sequenced in affected members of the family. Five of the ten subjects with MMs underwent neurophysiological and neuroimaging evaluations. The neurophysiological evaluation consisted of electromyographic (EMG) mirror recordings, investigations of corticospinal excitability, and analysis of interhemispheric inhibition using transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques. The neuroimaging evaluation included functional MRI during finger movements. Eight (all females) of the ten members examined presented MMs of varying degrees at the clinical assessment. Transmission of MMs appears to have occurred according to an autosomal-dominant fashion with variable expression. No mutation in DCC or RAD51 was identified. EMG mirror activity was higher in MM subjects than in healthy controls. Short-latency interhemispheric inhibition was reduced in MM subjects. Ipsilateral motor-evoked potentials were detectable in the most severe case. The neuroimaging evaluation did not disclose any significant abnormalities in MM subjects. The variability of the clinical features of this family, and the lack of known genetic abnormalities, suggests that MMs are heterogeneous disorders. The pathophysiological mechanisms of MMs include abnormalities of transcallosal inhibition and corticospinal decussatio

Legionella and legionellosis in touristic-recreational facilities. Influence of climate factors and geostatistical analysis in Southern Italy (2001-2017)

Legionella is the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, a flu-like illness normally acquired following inhalation or aspiration of contaminated water aerosols. Our recent studies revealed that climatic parameters can increase the number of reported cases of community-acquired Legionnaires' disease. Here, we evaluated the presence of Legionella in water networks and the distribution of Legionnaires' disease cases associated with touristic-recreational facilities in the Apulia region (southern Italy) during the period 2001-2017 using geostatistical and climatic analyses. Geostatistical analysis data revealed that the area with the highest concentration of Legionella in water systems also had the greatest number of cases of Legionnaires' disease associated with touristic-recreational facilities. Climatic analysis showed that higher daily temperature excursion (difference between maximum and minimum temperature) on the day of sampling was more often associated with Legionella-positive samples than Legionella-negative samples. In addition, our data highlighted an increased risk of Legionnaires' disease with increases in precipitation and average temperature and with decreases in daily temperature excursion (difference between maximum and minimum temperature over the course of 24 h in the days of incubation period of disease) and minimum temperature. Healthcare professionals should be aware of this phenomenon and be particularly vigilant for cases of community-acquired pneumonia during such climatic conditions and among the tourist population. The innovative geo-statistical approach used in this study could be applied in other contexts when evaluating the effects of climatic conditions on the incidence of Legionella infections