INQUINAMENTO INDOOR DA RADON. UNA APPLICAZIONE DELLE RETI BAYESIANE A SUPPORTO DELLA DIAGNOSI

Nel quadro più generale della tematica del controllo della qualità ambientale e più in particolare dell’Indoor Air Quality, la presente relazione riporta lo studio di un fenomeno di inquinamento da radon riguardante la scuola “G. Mancino” di Palermo. Lo spunto viene offerto dal fatto che nel 2005, nel corso di un monitoraggio della radioattività ambientale di Palermo, i tecnici dell’ARPA Sicilia hanno rilevato in questa scuola elementare degli anni ’30, livelli di radon indoor molto superiori ai limiti di legge fissati dal D.Lgs. 241/2000. Nella prima fase, dopo lo studio delle caratteristiche tipologiche e costruttive del plesso e l’acquisizione dei dati di misura pregressi, si è proceduto ad una nuova campagna di monitoraggio rivolta al rilievo di dati e misure sperimentali sulla presenza del radon indoor e dei dati meteoclimatici del contesto specifico. Nella seconda fase è stata formulata una proposta di intervento sostenuta dall’analisi dei meccanismi di inquinamento attraverso modelli di simulazione. In particolare l’approccio metodologico dello studio procede attraverso lo sviluppo di un modello di analisi basato sulle reti bayesiane, rilevatosi uno strumento utile di supporto per la diagnosi e le conseguenti decisioni progettuali, capace di controllare e descrivere fenomeni complessi e di stimare relazioni probabilistiche tra cause ed effetti

Effective Building Modelling for Energy Performance Contracting

Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) are contractual agreements between beneficiaries and energy service providers, where budgets are established in relation to a determined level of energy performance. Hence, the problem of forecasting the energy performance of buildings in the EPC tendering phase becomes relevant for the reliability of the overall contract. Unfortunately, fuzziness and incompleteness often characterize the technical information supporting EPC call for tenders. Furthermore, buildings that are the subjects of EPCs are normally quite complex public buildings (hospitals, schools, etc.) usually relatively old and not technically well known. Gathering information about such buildings is a time consuming and expensive process within the usually short time frame of EPC call for tenders. This paper investigates the application of Grey-Box modelling to the energy performance forecast of complex buildings, in perfectly and poorly informed operational cases. The proposed methodology offers a potential solution to the EPC operational requirements since it requires a substantially reduced parameter set. Results show that the proposed Grey-Box modelling can be used to arrange a calibration set-up with good forecasting performance. Furthermore, Grey-Box modelling allows an effective management of the information uncertainty usually present in the EPC context

Dynamic centrifuge testing to assess liquefaction potential

A set of centrifuge tests has been carried out at ISMGEO (Italy) laboratory on models of a liquefiable soil. A natural sand from the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy was used in the tests, in order to reproduce typical ground conditions where liquefaction occurred during the seismic sequence of 2012. The models were instrumented with miniaturised accelerometers and with pore pressure and displacement transducers. Spectrum-compatible acceleration time histories were applied at the base of the model. In this way triggering of the liquefaction was detected and post-liquefaction settlements were evaluated. The paper describes with the tests carried out on free-field models. Further tests are currently ongoing to assess the seismic response of simple model structures lying on liquefiable ground. The testing programme, funded within the H2020 research project LIQUEFACT, is aimed at an experimental verification of ground improvement techniques used to mitigate the liquefaction susceptibility of fully saturated loose sands

Stochastic behavioural models of occupants' main bedroom window operation for UK residential buildings

This paper presents the development of stochastic models of occupants' main bedroom window operation based on measurements collected in ten UK dwellings over a period of a year. The study uses multivariate logistic regression to understand the probability of opening and closing windows based on indoor and outdoor environment factors (physical environmental drivers) and according to the time of the day and season (contextual drivers). To the authors' knowledge, these are the first models of window opening and closing behaviour developed for UK residential buildings. The work reported in this paper suggests that occupants' main bedroom window operation is influenced by a range of physical environmental (i.e. indoor and outdoor air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and rainfall) and contextual variables (i.e. time of day and season). In addition, the effects of the physical environmental variables were observed to vary in relation to the contextual factors. The models provided in this work can be used to calculate the probability that the main bedroom window will be opened or closed in the next 10 min. These models could be used in building performance simulation applications to improve the inputs for occupants' window opening and closing behaviour and thus the predictions of energy use and indoor environmental conditions of residential buildings

The role of thermostatic radiator valves for the control of space heating in UK social-rented households

This paper provides an analysis of the relationships between dwelling, household and motivation, behaviour and perception characteristics and thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) settings in living rooms (n=187) and bedrooms (n=159) in UK social housing. The work capitalises on primary data from a socio-technical household survey undertaken in Plymouth, UK during 2015, which was coupled with building audit data. The mean reported TRV setpoint temperatures in the living rooms and bedrooms were 23.4°C and 21.9°C, implying that occupants prefer cooler conditions in bedrooms. There were systematic variations according to dwelling, household, and motivation, behaviour and perception characteristics. In general, the setpoint temperatures in individual rooms were higher than the whole house thermostat setpoint temperature, implying that there may be a misunderstanding of the role of TRVs in the home heating system. The research could enable social housing providers, the government and commercial organisations to target energy efficiency measures (i.e. thermal upgrades) and social interventions (i.e. behaviour change) at those dwellings and households where their impact may be most beneficial. The results presented could also be used to improve the assumptions of zonal heating behaviour in energy models, which could result in more realistic predictions of the heating demands of social housing

Calibration cone penetration testing in silty soils

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CSi - a joint industry project into CPTUs in silty soils

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Extra-Nuclear Signaling of Progesterone Receptor to Breast Cancer Cell Movement and Invasion through the Actin Cytoskeleton

Progesterone plays a role in breast cancer development and progression but the effects on breast cancer cell movement or invasion have not been fully explored. In this study, we investigate the actions of natural progesterone and of the synthetic progestin medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) on actin cytoskeleton remodeling and on breast cancer cell movement and invasion. In particular, we characterize the nongenomic signaling cascades implicated in these actions. T47-D breast cancer cells display enhanced horizontal migration and invasion of three-dimensional matrices in the presence of both progestins. Exposure to the hormones triggers a rapid remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton and the formation of membrane ruffles required for cell movement, which are dependent on the rapid phosphorylation of the actin-regulatory protein moesin. The extra-cellular small GTPase RhoA/Rho-associated kinase (ROCK-2) cascade plays central role in progesterone- and MPA-induced moesin activation, cell migration and invasion. In the presence of progesterone, progesterone receptor A (PRA) interacts with the G protein Gα13, while MPA drives PR to interact with tyrosine kinase c-Src and to activate phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase, leading to the activation of RhoA/ROCK-2. In conclusion, our findings manifest that progesterone and MPA promote breast cancer cell movement via rapid actin cytoskeleton remodeling, which are mediated by moesin activation. These events are triggered by RhoA/ROCK-2 cascade through partially differing pathways by the two compounds. These results provide original mechanistic explanations for the effects of progestins on breast cancer progression and highlight potential targets to treat endocrine-sensitive breast cancers