Revealing the impacts of passive cooling techniques on building energy performance: A residential case in Hong Kong

Environmental concerns and growing energy costs raise the importance of sustainable development and energy conservation. The building sector accounts for a significant portion of total energy consumption. Passive cooling techniques provide a promising and cost-efficient solution to reducing the energy demand of buildings. Based on a typical residential case in Hong Kong, this study aims to analyze the integration of various passive cooling techniques on annual and hourly building energy demand with whole building simulation. The results indicate that infiltration and insulation improvement are effective in regard to energy conservation in buildings, while the effectiveness of variations in building orientation, increasing natural ventilation rate, and phase change materials (PCM) are less significant. The findings will be helpful in the passive house standard development in Hong Kong and contribute to the further optimization work to realize both energy efficiency and favorably built environments in residential buildings.</jats:p

A hybrid constructed wetland for organic-material and nutrient removal from sewage: Process performance and multi-kinetic models

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd A pilot-scale hybrid constructed wetland with vertical flow and horizontal flow in series was constructed and used to investigate organic material and nutrient removal rate constants for wastewater treatment and establish a practical predictive model for use. For this purpose, the performance of multiple parameters was statistically evaluated during the process and predictive models were suggested. The measurement of the kinetic rate constant was based on the use of the first-order derivation and Monod kinetic derivation (Monod) paired with a plug flow reactor (PFR) and a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Both the Lindeman, Merenda, and Gold (LMG) analysis and Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method were employed for identifying the relative importance of variables and their optimal multiple regression (MR). The results showed that the first-order–PFR (M2) model did not fit the data (P > 0.05, and R2 0.5). The pollutant removal rates in the case of M1 were 0.19 m/d (CODCr) and those for M3 were 25.2 g/m2∙d for CODCr and 2.63 g/m2∙d for NH4-N. By applying a multi-variable linear regression method, the optimal empirical models were established for predicting the final effluent concentration of five days' biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and NH4-N. In general, the hydraulic loading rate was considered an important variable having a high value of relative importance, which appeared in all the optimal predictive models

Enhanced efficiency for better wastewater sludge hydrolysis conversion through ultrasonic hydrolytic pretreatment

© 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers The major requirements for accelerating the process of anaerobic digestion and energy production are breaking the structure of waste activated sludge (WAS), and transforming it into a soluble form suitable for biodegradation. This work investigated and analysed a novel bench-scale ultrasonic system for WAS disruption and hydrolysis using ultrasonic homogenization. Different commercial sonoreactors were used at low frequencies under a variety of operating conditions (intensity, density, power, sonication time, and total suspended solids) to evaluate the effects of the equipment on sludge hydrolysis and to generate new insights into the empirical models and mechanisms applicable to the real-world processing of wastewater sludge. A relationship was established between the operating parameters and the experimental data. Results indicated an increase in sonication time or ultrasonic intensity correlated with improved sludge hydrolysis rates, sludge temperature, and reduction rate of volatile solids (33.51%). It also emerged that ultrasonication could effectively accelerate WAS hydrolysis to achieve disintegration within 5–10 min, depending on the ultrasonic intensity. This study also determined multiple alternative parameters to increase the efficiency of sludge treatment and organic matter reduction, and establish the practicality of applying ultrasonics to wastewater sludge pretreatment

CYP17 5'-UTR MspA1 polymorphism and the risk of premenopausal breast cancer in a German population-based case–control study

INTRODUCTION: Studies on the association between the cytochrome P450c17α gene (CYP17) 5'-untranslated region MspA1 genetic polymorphism and breast cancer risk have yielded inconsistent results. Higher levels of estrogen have been reported among young nulliparous women with the A2 allele. Therefore we assessed the impact of CYP17 genotypes on the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, with emphasis on parity. METHODS: We used data from a population-based case–control study of women aged below 51 years conducted from 1992 to 1995 in Germany. Analyses were restricted to clearly premenopausal women with complete information on CYP17 and encompassed 527 case subjects and 904 controls, 99.5% of whom were of European descent. The MspA1 polymorphism was analyzed using PCR-RFLP (PCR–restriction fragment length polymorphism) assay. RESULTS: The frequencies of the variant allele among the cases and controls were 43% and 41%, respectively. Overall, CYP17 A1/A2 and A2/A2 genotypes compared with the A1/A1 genotype were not associated with breast cancer, with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 1.04 and 1.23, respectively. Among nulliparous women, however, breast cancer risk was elevated for the A1/A2 (OR = 1.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74 to 2.32) and the A2/A2 genotype (OR = 2.12; 95% CI 1.04 to 4.32) compared with the A1/A1 genotype, with a trend towards increasing risk associated with number of A2 alleles (P = 0.04). Otherwise, the CYP17 polymorphism was found neither to be an effect modifier of breast cancer risks nor to be associated with stage of disease. CONCLUSION: Our results do not indicate a major influence of CYP17 MspA1 polymorphism on the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, but suggest that it may have an impact on breast cancer risk among nulliparous women. The finding, however, needs to be confirmed in further studies

New surgical approach for late complications from spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND: The most frequent late complications in spinal cord injury result from arachnoiditis and consequent alterations in dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid flow. A surgical procedure carried out on patients with these alterations, resolved the various pathologies more efficiently in all cases. METHODS: From October 2000 to March 2006, 23 patients were selected for surgery: three showed signs of syringomyelia, three presented with microcystic lesions, three presented with arachnoid cysts in different locations but always confluent to the scar area, and 14 showed evidence of tethered cords. The surgery consisted of laminectomy at four levels, followed by dural opening in order to remove all the arachnoiditis at the level of the scar and to remove the altered arachnoid and its cysts, at least at two levels above and below the lesion. The dentate ligaments were cut at all exposed levels. RESULTS: The patients had no postoperative problems and not only retained all neurological functions but also showed neurological recovery. According to the motor and sensory scale of the American Spinal Injury Association, the recoveries were motor 20.6% (P < 0.001), touch 15.6% ((P < 0.001) and pinprick 14.4% (P < 0.001). These patients showed no signs of relapse at 4–66 month follow-up. CONCLUSION: This alternative surgery resolved the pathologies provoking neurological deterioration by releasing the complete spinal cord at the level of the scar and the levels above and below it. It thus avoids myelotomies and the use of shunts and stents, which have a high long-term failure rate and consequent relapses. Nevertheless, this surgical procedure allows patients the chance to opt for any further treatment that may evolve in the future

One-step fabrication of biocompatible chitosan-coated ZnS and ZnS:Mn2+ quantum dots via a γ-radiation route

Biocompatible chitosan-coated ZnS quantum dots [CS-ZnS QDs] and chitosan-coated ZnS:Mn2+ quantum dots [CS-ZnS:Mn2+ QDs] were successfully fabricated via a convenient one-step γ-radiation route. The as-obtained QDs were around 5 nm in diameter with excellent water-solubility. These QDs emitting strong visible blue or orange light under UV excitation were successfully used as labels for PANC-1 cells. The cell experiments revealed that CS-ZnS and CS-ZnS:Mn2+ QDs showed low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility, which offered possibilities for further biomedical applications. Moreover, this convenient synthesis strategy could be extended to fabricate other nanoparticles coated with chitosan

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade

Copyright @ 2014 Wei et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success. It further revealed that orthographic awareness played a dominant role in the early stages of reading acquisition, and its influence decreased with age, while the opposite was true for the contribution of morphological awareness. The results were in stark contrast with studies in English, where phonological awareness is typically shown as the single most potent metalinguistic awareness factor in literacy acquisition. In order to account for the current data, a three-stage model of reading acquisition in Chinese is discussed.National Natural Science Foundation of China and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Selecting Display Products for Furniture Stores Using Fuzzy Multi-criteria Decision Making Techniques

© 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Efficient marketing in which the right products are supplied to the right consumer plays a crucial role for a profitable business in the age of highly accessible and competitive global market. This fact enforces producers to clearly identify and analyze the needs of consumers and to display their products respecting locality based on customers’ needs. The position of the business is strengthened within the market and its competiveness increases by supplying and displaying the products suitable to regional consumers’ preferences. In this study, an integral fuzzy multi criteria decision making technique is proposed for an effective decision making process to select the most suitable display products to the consumers’ needs and preferences. The approach has been applied to identify the most suitable set of modular furniture products to be displayed at a local store that locates in Bursa city of Turkey. The approach uses Fuzzy DEMATEL method to work out the interrelations of chosen criteria, which are weighted with Fuzzy ANP and finally suggest a rank-based list of products with Fuzzy PROMETHEE. The results are verified with the expert view and found very useful