Sustainability in Civil Engineering: Integrated Mix of Some Non-Invasive Sensing Techniques for Conservation and Restoration of Historical Buildings and Frescoes

AbstractSanta Maria of the Palomba Sanctuary was built in XVth century on a pre-existing medieval crypt, situated in a splendid landscape, on the south facing ravine on which stands the city of Matera, integrating in a wonderful way the underground and sub divo building; in the ages shortly following a notable cycle of frescoes was painted renewing the decorative state of the underground church.Over many years, the building fell into decay, the structures and frescoes were flooded and damaged; so that from 1980 important restoration works were carried out, constructing ventilation canals under the floor of the hypogeic church, incorporating heating pipes, connected to solar thermal panels in such a way to secure the optimum thermohygrometric conditions for conservation. After almost thirty years, before working on the restoration of the frescoes it was necessary to completely and objectively characterize the existing physical conditions

Towards more sustainable patterns of urban development

DETR, 1998, wrote in Planning for Sustainable Development. Towards Better Practice: “New settlements will enjoy a high quality of urban and landscape design. As well as integrated open space, there should be habitat areas, and environmental gains such as energy efficiency measures introduced in layouts and individual buildings”; but this claim is remained largely dissatisfied. There is a great interest (and large investments in research) for the smart city, which seeks to optimize the existing cities, while people go on to design urban developments with building typologies set ninety years ago by Modern Movement or little more. Urban Planning compares existing cities’ models and asseverates that densification has positive role for sustainability, but do not turns enough to account passive typologies for heating and cooling, which can turn down near to zero power-consumption, and at the same time can raise urban environment quality. Famous settlements too, as Malmö or Vauban in Freiburg, has been built with building typologies conventional, after all; German passive Haus have generally two, three or four building fronts and in reality, are simply hyper-insulated traditional buildings, furnished with mechanical controlled ventilation. For an urban extension of Potenza, we have used for the urban planning the sustainability assessment categories of ITACA’s Protocol, derivative from GBTool of GBC, people normally use to assess ex-post sustainability of projects and of realized buildings. The result is a settlement in which pedestrian, cycle and public transport’s network is fully integrated with adjacent urban areas; effective landscaping connects public and private green and kitchen-gardens/orchards are everywhere; buildings are made with new semi-underground typologies, nZEB and made with local, re-cyclable materials; rain water is collected, in-loco fito-depurated and reused; in-loco renewable energies (sun, earth, wind) satisfies remaining necessitie

Semi-underground house models as new concepts for urban sustainable environment

Abstract The underground and semi-underground construction is a building type whose traces are lost in the past: from Cappadocia to Jordan, man has left us countless testimonials of dug cities that, today, respond more adequately to the climatic problems. It is surprising to see how a building type, which has its roots in the remote past is today able to satisfy the needs of energy saving and of architectural forms which are continuously evolving. The peculiarity of this type is the capacity to relate to the ground morphology by inserting in a "non- violent way" but adapting to the pre-existent conformity. Therefore, in a local mountainous context like Basilicata, land in southern Italy, whose building tradition is the semi-underground construction, a project experience such as that proposed in this paper can be the cue for a revitalization of the urban contest

The circular design for a school in conditioned Quercus cerris hardwood glulam

[EN] The Design for Sustainability of building processes and products is closely connected to Design for Adaptability, to Design for Disassembling and Design for Recycling, in a global perspective of Circular Economy that has at his centre the enhancement of renewable resources in specific environmental contexts, economic, social and cultural. This contribution is part of a research aimed at validating experiences already made in the direction of pre-competitive development, also with the purpose of patenting process and products, with a Cerro Lucano supply chain that could constitute an important environmental protection factor, for social equity and economic development. In a series of previous researches, the application of this new material was hypothesized both in the field of conservation and refurbishment of building heritage, and for new ways of designing new buildings, even of considerable height. In this contribution it refers to its application to the design of a new nZEB school complex in Rionero in Vulture (Potenza), according to the principles of circular design.Thanks to prof. Felice C. Ponzo, Director and Scientific Manager of the Materials and Structures Test Laboratory (SisLab, SI-Unibas), for having allowed its use to perform the necessary tests on the model developed, and for the help provided in studying the structural aspects and the assessment of seismic vulnerability. Thanks also goes to PhD. Eng. Antonio Di Cesare, Researcher at SisLab, for the consultancy he gave on the design and calculation of the building’s earthquake-resistant system.Marino, FPR.; Lembo, F.; Di Lucchio, C. (2021). The circular design for a school in conditioned Quercus cerris hardwood glulam. VITRUVIO - International Journal of Architectural Technology and Sustainability. 6(1):72-91. https://doi.org/10.4995/vitruvio-ijats.2021.15403OJS729161Arnette, A.N., Brewer, B.L., & Choal, T. 2014. 'Design for sustainability (DFS): the intersection of supply chain and environment', Journal of Cleaner Production, 2014, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.07.021Braungart, M., & McDonough, W. 2003. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, London: Random UK.CICERONE - Circular economy platform for European priorities strategic agenda 2020. Strategic research and innovation agenda, Retrieved from https://cicerone-h2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CICERONE-SRIA-2021.pdf.Du Plessis, C., & Cole, R.J. 2011. 'Motivating change: shifting the paradigm'. Building Research & Information, 39(5), 436-449. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2011.582697Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2013. Towards the Circular Economy - Economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition.Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2017. Cities in the Circular Economy: an initial exploration.Ellen MacArthur Foundation - ARUP. 2019a. Circular Economy in cities: project guide.Ellen MacArthur Foundation - ARUP. 2019b. Designing Buildings for Adaptive Use, Durability, and Positive Impact.Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2021. Universal circular economy policy goals. Enabling the transition to scale.Finnish Innovation Fund (SITRA). 2021. The Winning Recipe for a Circular Economy. What can inspiring examples show us? SITRA Studies 182.Geldermans, R.J. 2016. 'Design for change and circularity - accommodating circular material & product flows in construction'. Energy Procedia, 96, 301-311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2016.09.153IISD - International Institute for Sustainable Development. 2018. Estimating Employment Effects of the Circular Economy. Retrieved from https://iisd.org/publications/estimating-employment-effects-circular-economyIISD - SITRA. 2020. Effects of the Circular Economy on Jobs, Retrieved from https://media.sitra.fi/2021/01/13120019/effects-of-thecircular-economy-on-jobs.pdfJackson, T. 1993. Clean Production Strategies: Developing Preventive Environment Management in the Industrial Economy, CRC Press Inc.Jockwer, R., Goto, Y., Scharn, E., & Crona, K. 2020. 'Design for adaption - Making timber buildings ready for circular use and extended service life', IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 588(5), pp. 15-19. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/588/5/052025Lembo, F., & Marino, F.P.R. 2007. 'Un nuovo procedimento per il condizionamento delle latifoglie'. In: A. Passaro, La produzione industriale eco-orientata per l'edilizia. Napoli, Luciano Editore, p. 279-286, ISBN: 9788860260581.Lembo, F., & Marino, F.P.R. 2008. 'Floors realized in Quercus cerris laminated timber in buildings with structure in masonry, performing anti-seismic functions'. In: 8th International seminar on structural masonry. Congress Proceedings. Istanbul, Çizgi Basim Yayin Ltd. Sti, pp. 441-448, ISBN: 9789755613420.Lembo, F., & Marino, F.P.R. 2015. 'The Environment-Friendly Architecture come through wooden architecture'. In: A.Y. Oral, Z.B. Bahsi, M. Ozer (edited by), ENEFM 2014 - 2nd International Congress on Energy Efficiency and Energy Related Materials. Springer Proceedings in Energy, Springer Inter. Publ. Switzerland, pp.281-289, ISBN 978-3-319-16900-2, ISSN 2352-2534, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16901-9_34Lembo, F., & Marino, F.P.R. 2016. 'The refurbishment of the Basilicata constructive historical models through the refurbishment of the medieval historic centre of Brienza (PZ, Italy)'. In: Rogério Amoêda, Sérgio Lira & Cristina Pinheiro (Eds.), HERITAGE 2016 - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development. Green Lines Institute (Publisher), Vol.2, Chapter 7: Preservation of historic building and structures, pp.1355-1365, ISBN 978-989-8734-15-0, eBook ISBN: 978-989-8734-14-3.Lembo, F., Marino, F.P.R., & Cennamo, V. 2007. 'Refurbishment and rehabilitation: example of application of new materials and modern constructive techniques on a Southern Italy XIX century theatre'. In: XXXV IAHS World Congress on Housing Science - Congress Proceedings. Melbourne, RMIT University, ISBN: 9781921166686.Lembo, F., Marino, F.P.R., & Varuolo, M. 2016. Progettare una scuola per l'infanzia con bilancio di sostenibilità ambientale positivo. PROTECTA, Speciale 30 anni «Energia Efficienza Ecomobilità» Edizione n. 12, dicembre 2016, Ecoedizioni Internazionali s.r.l., pp. 116-117, ISSN: 1121-3124.Lembo, F., Marino, F.P.R., & Cancellara, C. 2018. Conservation of the Church and the Friary of "Santa Maria degli Angeli" in Atella (Potenza, Italy). Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction (JCEC), 7(4), pp.178-191. https://doi.org/10.32732/jcec.2018.7.4.178Lembo, F., Marino, F.P.R., & Pietrafesa, P. 2019. 'Energy Efficiency Upgrade & Conservation - the Marsico Palace in Pignola (PZ)'. In: Rogério Amoêda, Sérgio Lira & Cristina Pinheiro (Eds.), Proceedings of REHAB2019 - 4th International Conference on Preservation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Historical Buildings and Structures. Green Lines Institute (Publisher). Chapter 4: Preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures, pp.269-279, ISBN: 978-989-8734-41-9, eBook ISBN: 978-989-8734-42-6.Lyle, J.T. 1994. Regenerative design for sustainable development. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.Local Research 2002. Prospettive di impiego del legno di provenienza locale: produzione di profili lamellari in cerro e roverella per serramenti esterni. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C. (Laboratory of Construction Technology), research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, A. Videtta.Local Research 2003. Filiera del legno di cerro per l'edilizia in Basilicata. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C,, research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, A. De Fina.Local Research 2004. Colle ecocompatibili per le opere in legno lamellare di cerro modificato: stato dell'arte e proposte di ricerca. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, C. Di Dio.Local Research 2006. Le colle ecocompatibili per le opere in legno lamellare in commercio oggi in Europa. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, V. Catalano.Local Research 2008. Minieolico ad asse verticale: stato dell'arte e progetto campione. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, T. Lamaina.Local Research 2012. Valutazione analitica della compatibilità ambientale dei componenti edilizi. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, D. Ioanni.Local Research 2015. Progettazione di un insediamento residenziale bioclimatico. Valutazione analitica della sua sostenibilità ambientale. (Edificio in legno). University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, S. Cerroni. Local Research 2016. Progetto di un edificio bioclimatico di grande altezza, con struttura a trave pilastro post-compressa e controventi dissipativi, in cerro lamellare modificato. Aspetti strutturali e tecnologici. University of Basilicata, La.Te.C., research group: F. Lembo, F.P.R. Marino, A. D'Andrea.Lovins, A.B., Lovins, L.H., & Hawken P. 2010. Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution, Earthscan Publications Ltd., London.Marino, F.P.R., Auletta, G., Baldantoni, F., Ponzo, F.C., & Lembo, F. (2021, in print). 'From the cure of the simple structural analysis to the control of the final technological quality. The conservation of "Santa Maria degli Angeli" Orphanage in Castelgrande (Potenza, Italy)'. In: P. Roca, L. Pelà and C. Molins (Eds.), Proceedings of SAHC 2021 - 12th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions. Barcelona (Spain), postponed due to Covid-19, from 16-18 September 2020 to 29, 30 September - 1 October 2021.Marino, F.P.R., & Lembo, F. 2017. How to define a design methodology able to achieve anti-seismic and functional upgrades of building heritage. In: Rogério Amoêda, Sérgio Lira & Cristina Pinheiro (Eds.), REHAB2017 - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Preservation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Historical Buildings and Structures. Green Lines Institute (Publisher). Chapter 3: Preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures: case studies, pp.309-321, ISBN: 978-989-8734-24-2, eBook ISBN: 978-989-8734-23-5.Marino, F.P.R., Lembo, F., & Fanuele, V. (2019a). 'Towards more sustainable patterns of urban development'. In: SBE19 - Emerging Concepts for Sustainable Built Environment. IOP Publishing - IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 297 2019. 012028. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/297/1/012028Marino, F.P.R., Lembo, F., & Lisi, C. (2019b). 'The Refurbishement of former Remand Home "E. Gianturco" in Avigliano (Potenza, Italy), upgrading its seismic resistance and transforming it in a nZEB Elderly People and Social House'. In: Rogério Amoêda, Sérgio Lira & Cristina Pinheiro (Eds.), Proceedings of REHAB2019 - 4th International Conference on Preservation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Historical Buildings and Structures. Green Lines Institute (Publisher). Chapter 4: Preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures, pp.257-268, ISBN: 978-989-8734-41-9, eBook ISBN: 978-989-8734-42-6.Marino, F.P.R., Lembo, F., Videtta, A., & La Notte, C. 2006. 'Quercus cerris glued laminated timber: a novel material derived from wood. Tests on thermoigrometric conditioning, wood adhesives and flexion breakout tension'. In: Sustainable Housing Design Emphasizing Urban Housing - XXXIV IAHS World Congress. Napoli, 20-23 settembre 2006. Napoli, Luciano Editore, ISBN: 9788860260307.Marino, F.P.R., & Marrone, P. 2020. 'From lifespan to useful life, towards a new paradigm of durability for sustainable construction', TECHNE - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, (20), pp. 148-156. https://doi.org/10.13128/techne-8259.Mazria, E. 1980. Sistemi solari passivi. Franco Muzzio & C. Editore, Padova, pag. 15.Ministère de l'Environnement 2017., 10 indicateurs clés pour le suivi de l'économie circulaire, statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2018-10/datalab-18-economie-circulaire-edition-2017-c.pdf.Mitchell, P., & Morgan, J. 2015., Employment and the circular economy. Job creation in a more resource efficient Britain, WRAP & Green Alliance. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1026.5049PACE - Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy. 2020. Annual Report, Retrieved from https://pacecircular.org/sites/default/ files/2021-03/21.2_REP_Pace%20Annual_March23.pdf.Pauli, G. 2010. The Blue Economy, 10 Years 100 Innovations 100 Million Jobs. Report to the Club of Rome, Taos, New Mexico, Paradigm Publications.Pearce, D.W., & Turner, R.K. 1989., Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Raworth, K. 2018., Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21-Century Economist, London: Random UK.SITRA. 2021. How does the Circular Economy change jobs in Europe?, Retrieved from https://media.sitra.fi/2021/03/27163705/sitra-howdoes-the-circular-economy-change-jobs-in-europe-v2.pdf.Stahel, W.R. 2019, The Circular Economy: A User's Guide, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429259203Villani, G. 2008. Complesso e organizzato. Sistemi strutturati in fisica, chimica, biologia ed oltre, Milano: Franco Angeli.Weetman, C. 2020., A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business, London: Kogan Page

Enalapril reduces proliferation and hyaluronic acid release in orbital fibroblasts

BACKGROUND: Orbital fibroblast proliferation and hyaluronic acid (HA) release are responsible for some of the clinical features of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO). Thus, inhibition of these processes may be a possible therapeutic approach to this syndrome. Enalapril, a widely used antihypertensive drug, was found to have some inhibitory actions on fibroblast proliferation in cheloid scars in vivo, based on which we investigated its effects in primary cultures of orbital fibroblasts from GO patients and control subjects. METHODS: Primary cultures of GO and control fibroblasts were treated with enalapril or with a control compound (lisinopril). Cell proliferation assays, lactate dehydrogenase release assays (as a measure of cell necrosis), apoptosis assays, and measurement of HA in the cell media were performed. RESULTS: Enalapril significantly reduced cell proliferation in both GO and control fibroblasts. Because enalapril did not affect cell necrosis and apoptosis, we concluded that its effects on proliferation reflected an inhibition of cell growth and/or a delay in cell cycle. Enalapril significantly reduced HA concentrations in the media from both GO and control fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS: Enalapril has antiproliferative and HA suppressing actions in both GO and control fibroblasts. Clinical studies are needed to investigate whether enalapril has any effects in vivo in patients with GO

RETRACE-3D PROJECT, a multidisciplinary approach for the construction of a 3D crustal model: first results and seismotectonic implications

The RETRACE-3D (centRal italy EarThquakes integRAted Crustal modEl) Project has been launched with the ambitious goal to build, as first result, a new, robust, 3D geological model of broad consensus of the area struck by the 2016-2018 Central Italy seismic sequencePublishedBologna3T. Sorgente sismica4T. Sismicità dell'Itali

Microgenomic Analysis in Skeletal Muscle: Expression Signatures of Individual Fast and Slow Myofibers

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle is a complex, versatile tissue composed of a variety of functionally diverse fiber types. Although the biochemical, structural and functional properties of myofibers have been the subject of intense investigation for the last decades, understanding molecular processes regulating fiber type diversity is still complicated by the heterogeneity of cell types present in the whole muscle organ. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have produced a first catalogue of genes expressed in mouse slow-oxidative (type 1) and fast-glycolytic (type 2B) fibers through transcriptome analysis at the single fiber level (microgenomics). Individual fibers were obtained from murine soleus and EDL muscles and initially classified by myosin heavy chain isoform content. Gene expression profiling on high density DNA oligonucleotide microarrays showed that both qualitative and quantitative improvements were achieved, compared to results with standard muscle homogenate. First, myofiber profiles were virtually free from non-muscle transcriptional activity. Second, thousands of muscle-specific genes were identified, leading to a better definition of gene signatures in the two fiber types as well as the detection of metabolic and signaling pathways that are differentially activated in specific fiber types. Several regulatory proteins showed preferential expression in slow myofibers. Discriminant analysis revealed novel genes that could be useful for fiber type functional classification. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: As gene expression analyses at the single fiber level significantly increased the resolution power, this innovative approach would allow a better understanding of the adaptive transcriptomic transitions occurring in myofibers under physiological and pathological condition

Cetuximab continuation after first progression in metastatic colorectal cancer (CAPRI-GOIM): A randomized phase II trial of FOLFOX plus cetuximab versus FOLFOX

Background: Cetuximab plus chemotherapy is a first-line treatment option in metastatic KRAS and NRAS wild-type colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. No data are currently available on continuing anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy beyond progression. Patients and methods: We did this open-label, 1:1 randomized phase II trial at 25 hospitals in Italy to evaluate the efficacy of cetuximab plus 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) as second-line treatment of KRAS exon 2 wild-type metastatic CRC patients treated in first line with 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) plus cetuximab. Patients received FOLFOX plus cetuximab (arm A) or FOLFOX (arm B). Primary end point was progressionfree survival (PFS). Tumour tissues were assessed by next-generation sequencing (NGS). This report is the final analysis. Results: Between 1 February 2010 and 28 September 2014, 153 patients were randomized (74 in arm A and 79 in arm B). Median PFS was 6.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.7-8.0] versus 4.5 months (95% CI 3.3-5.7); [hazard ratio (HR), 0.81; 95% CI 0.58-1.12; P = 0.19], respectively. NGS was performed in 117/153 (76.5%) cases; 66/117 patients (34 in arm A and 32 in arm B) had KRAS, NRAS, BRAF and PIK3CA wild-type tumours. For these patients, PFS was longer in the FOLFOX plus cetuximab arm [median 6.9 (95% CI 5.5-8.2) versus 5.3 months (95% CI 3.7-6.9); HR, 0.56 (95% CI 0.33-0.94); P = 0.025]. There was a trend in better overall survival: median 23.7 [(95% CI 19.4-28.0) versus 19.8 months (95% CI 14.9-24.7); HR, 0.57 (95% CI 0.32-1.02); P = 0.056]. Conclusions: Continuing cetuximab treatment in combination with chemotherapy is of potential therapeutic efficacy in molecularly selected patients and should be validated in randomized phase III trials

First detection of X-ray polarization from the accreting neutron star 4U 1820-303

This paper reports the first detection of polarization in the X-rays for atoll-source 4U 1820-303, obtained with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) at 99.999% confidence level (CL). Simultaneous polarimetric measurements were also performed in the radio with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The IXPE observations of 4U 1820-303 were coordinated with Swift-XRT, NICER, and NuSTAR aiming to obtain an accurate X-ray spectral model covering a broad energy interval. The source shows a significant polarization above 4 keV, with a polarization degree of 2.0(0.5)% and a polarization angle of -55(7) deg in the 4-7 keV energy range, and a polarization degree of 10(2)% and a polarization angle of -67(7) deg in the 7-8 keV energy bin. This polarization also shows a clear energy trend with polarization degree increasing with energy and a hint for a position-angle change of about 90 deg at 96% CL around 4 keV. The spectro-polarimetric fit indicates that the accretion disk is polarized orthogonally to the hard spectral component, which is presumably produced in the boundary/spreading layer. We do not detect linear polarization from the radio counterpart, with a 99.97% upper limit of 50% at 7.25 GHz