Design and operation of transparent adaptive façades from a visual comfort and energy use perspective

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Ethical issues of monitoring sensor networks for energy efficiency in smart buildings: A case study

Abstract The development of Internet of Things (IoT) based sensors has become crucial for analyzing and optimizing the energy-performance of buildings. However, researchers and professionals should be prepared to deal with the social and thus ethical issues arising from the use of such technologies. Based on a real case-study, we present a detailed analysis of the networks of stakeholders and the consequent ethical issues related to the implementation of energy and IEQ sensors network in an Italian university campus. Alternative scenarios for eliminating or reducing the criticalities related to security and privacy issues are proposed

Wigner function with correlation damping

We examine the effect of the decoherence-induced reduction of correlation length on a one-dimensional scattering problem by solving numerically the evolution equation for the Wigner function with decoherence proposed by Barletti et al. [J. Comput. Theor. Transp. 47, 209 (2018)]. The numerical solution is achieved by the splitting-scheme algorithm, suitably modified to include the decoherence term. Three cases are examined, corresponding to a reflection-dominated regime, a transmission-dominated regime, and an intermediate one. The dynamic evolution of the Wigner function is followed until the separation process of the reflected and of the transmitted packets is complete and it is observed for three different values of the correlation length. The outcomes show a broadening and flattening of the Wigner function which becomes progressively more pronounced as the correlation length is decreased. This results in a reduced reflection at low energies and in a reduced transmission at high energies

Thermo-chromic glazing in buildings: a novel methodological framework for a multi-objective performance evaluation

Abstract Transparent adaptive facade components can improve the energy performance and the indoor environmental quality of buildings. Nevertheless, their utilization is not widespread, due also to the lack of a robust methodology to comprehensively evaluate their potentialities and find out their most suitable applications. The present paper introduces a novel methodology to characterize the behavior of a transparent adaptive facade component, a thermo-chromic glazing, and predict its effects, through numerical simulations, on energy performance and visual comfort aspects. An experimental characterization on the thermo-chromic glazing was performed to determine its optical properties at the variation of its surface temperature. The component was found to be able to switch its visible transmittance between 0.71 and 0.13, and its solar transmittance between 0.65 and 0.28. The experimental results were used to feed the numerical model created on purpose to describe the adaptive behavior of the component. Finally, a numerical simulation campaign was performed to assess the effects of the thermo-chromic glazing on energy and visual comfort aspects of an enclosed office located in Turin. It was found that the thermo-chromic glazing reduced the overall energy performance compared to a static selective glazing, but it allows improving the visual comfort conditions within the space considered

Lighting and Energy Performance of an Adaptive Shading and Daylighting System for Arid Climates

Finding the proper trade-off between blocking direct sunlight, ensuring sufficient indoor daylighting and view out is a particularly delicate task especially in arid climates, due to harsh environmental conditions. As a tentative answer to this challenge, an adaptive shading and daylighting system (Shape Variable Mashrabiya – SVM) has been developed by the authors, described in an earlier paper. In this paper, we analyze how the SVM may affect annual lighting and global primary energy performance of an office building in Abu Dhabi: the SVM was applied to east and west façades and compared to external Venetian blinds, reflective and selective glazing

Light versus Energy Performance of Office Rooms with Curtain Walls: A Parametric Study

A parametric study aimed at identifying the best performing solution in terms of lighting, heating and cooling demand minimization for an office room is presented. Different orientations, room and façade lay-outs, glazing and lighting control systems have been combined and 192 configurations have been analysed through a two-step process: daylight factor and dynamic daylighting metrics and the corresponding energy demand for lighting were calculated in step 1 using Daysim; the energy demand for heating and cooling was determined in step 2 using a quasi-steady state approach, to verify whether the best configurations obtained in step 1 also resulted in the lowest global energy demand

A novel methodology to spatially evaluate DGP classes by means of vertical illuminances. Preliminary results

A novel methodology to overcome the main limit of the Daylight Glare Probability DGP (i.e. the heavy computational time for an annual analysis of the DGP profile in one point) is presented. This uses a proxy based on the vertical illuminance (Ev) at the eye level. To do so, the most suitable value of Ev, to substitute DGP, is found by means of a comparison to the corresponding DGP value through a fault-detection diagnosis technique. The methodology was applied to a representative enclosed office with one South-facing window (Window-to-Wall Ratio of 50%) located in Turin. The glazing was assumed to have different transmission properties (specular and scattering) with different visible transmittances (in the range 3%-66%). The error in the estimation of the DGP classes calculated through the eye vertical illuminance was evaluated, for an analysis period of a whole year. The main advantages of the methodology proposed lie (i) in a significant reduction of the computational time required for its application and (ii) in the possibility of evaluating glare conditions not only for one or few points, but for a grid of points across a considered space. Its main limitation lies on its inability to quantify the exact DGP value, returning instead, at every time-step, the DGP class of performance

Venom from Cuban Blue Scorpion has tumor activating effect in hepatocellular carcinoma

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term used to describe many kinds of products, practices, and systems that are not part of conventional medicine. Cancer patients usually do everything they can to combat the disease, manage its symptoms, and cope with the side effects of treatment. Unfortunately, patients who use CAM underestimate the risk of interaction with cancer therapy or worse they omit conventional therapy thus reducing the possibility of cancer remission. Herein we analyzed the effects of Vidatox 30 CH (venom extracted from the Junceus Rhopalurus scorpion) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. We found out that Vidatox increases HCC proliferation and invasion whereas it does not seem to interact with sorafenib, the orally active multikinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Our results suggest that the concentration of Vidatox used in the present study has not anti-neoplastic effects and care must be taken in hiring Vidatox in patients with HCC