Coupling of CityGML-based Semantic City Models with Energy Simulation Tools: some Experiences

More and more cities are creating and adopting three-dimensional virtual city models as a means for data integration, harmonisation and storage, often based on CityGML, which is an international standard conceived specifically as information and data model for semantic city models at urban and territorial scale. A centralised database can thus foster the development of new integrated applications profiting from such an harmonised data source, in that detailed information is retrieved about building characteristics or any other relevant entities needed for urban planning (infrastructures, hydrography and terrain models, etc.). This paper focuses on the adoption of a CityGML-based semantic 3D virtual city model to perform energy simulations. It deals primarily with the demand side, and concentrated particularly on the spatial and temporal evaluation of the net energy demand for space heating of buildings in a city. Two approaches are presented: the first one deals with the estimation of the heating energy demand of buildings adopting a standard-based approach, which allow obtaining monthly values of heating energy demand. The second approach describes the first results as how a dynamic simulation tool can be connected to a CityGML-based city model in order to benefit from the amount of harmonised data stored therein and further refine the results, e.g. in terms of time resolution. As test area, a part of the city of Trento (Italy) was chosen

Tuberkulose bei Patientinnen und Patienten mit Geburtsland Ukraine in Deutschland im Jahr 2022

Die Tuberkuloseepidemiologie in Niedriginzidenzländern wird durch globale Krisen und daraus folgende medizinische Versorgungseinschränkungen und Migrationsbewegungen beeinflusst, denn das Infektions- und Erkrankungsrisiko liegt bei Menschen aus Herkunftsländern mit höherer Tuberkuloseprävalenz über dem der Allgemeinbevölkerung des Ziellandes – letzteres auch noch Jahre nach Einreise. Dies trifft auch auf Menschen zu, die seit Beginn des Krieges in der Ukraine Ende Februar 2022 in Deutschland Schutz suchen. Die vorliegende deskriptive Analyse der vorläufigen Tuberkulosemeldedaten für 2022 zeigt gegenüber den Vorjahren eine deutliche Zunahme der Anzahl an Tuberkulosepatientinnen und -patienten mit Geburtsland Ukraine und liefert wichtige Informationen, um Betroffenen die bestmögliche Tuberkuloseprävention, -diagnostik und -behandlung zukommen zu lassen.Peer Reviewe

Effect of weather variables on biomass production and N uptake of catch crops, and their influence on soil water and Nmin content in Northern Germany

Der Anbau von nicht winterharten Zwischenfrüchten mit Resistenz gegenüber dem Rübenzystennematoden erfolgt bundesweit auf etwa der Hälfte der nächstjährigen Zuckerrübenfelder. Die vorliegende Studie zielte darauf ab, (i) den Einfluss der Witterungsbedingungen im Zeitraum des Zwischenfruchtanbaus auf das Wachstum von Weißem Senf (Sinapis alba) und einer Artenmischung aus 7 legumen und nicht-legumen Pflanzenarten zu analysieren. Darüber hinaus sollte die Wirkung dieser Zwischenfrüchte auf (ii) die Wasserverfügbarkeit für die Folgefrucht Zuckerrübe und (iii) das N-Auswaschungsrisiko über Winter im Vergleich zu einer Variante Strohmulch unter den Boden-, Klima- und Anbaubedingungen Norddeutschlands erfasst werden. Dazu wurden Feldversuche in 15 Umwelten durchgeführt (2012/13–2014/15, 5 Standorte pro Jahr).In einer Korrelationsanalyse erwiesen sich die mittlere tägliche Niederschlagsmenge nach Aussaat der Zwischen­frucht bis Ende September und die Lufttemperatur um die Monatsmitte des Septembers als maßgebliche Einflussgrößen auf die oberirdische Biomassebildung der Zwischenfrüchte bis Anfang November. Diese beiden Para­meter erklärten bis zu 70% der Varianz der Zwischenfrucht-Biomasse. Parameter, die den Aussaattermin bzw. die Länge der Vegetationszeit der Zwischenfrüchte unmittelbar beinhalteten, fanden keinen Eingang in die abgeleitete multiple Regression. Im Mittel senkte der Zwischenfruchtanbau den Bodenwassergehalt vor und nach Winter nicht gegenüber Strohmulch, wenngleich er vor Winter in 7 Umwelten nach Strohmulch signifikant höher lag als nach Zwischenfrucht. Nach Winter traten in keiner Umwelt mehr Unterschiede auf. Somit war der Boden­vorrat von Wasser für die nachfolgenden Zuckerrüben durch den Anbau von im Spätherbst gemulchten Zwischenfrüchten gegenüber Strohmulch nicht verringert.Sowohl der Senf als auch die Artenmischung senkten den Boden-Nmin-Gehalt vor Winter deutlich ab. Damit ist zunächst von einem geringeren Risiko der Nitratauswaschung während der Wintermonate auszugehen. Dennoch kann bei einem frühen Häckseltermin sowie milder und nasser Winterwitterung eine N-Mineralisation stattfinden, die das Auswaschungsrisiko erheblich steigert.In eine Gesamtbewertung des Zwischenfruchtanbaus in derzeit praxisüblicher Form müssen weitere Aspekte wie Nematodenkontrolle, Lachgasfreisetzung, Humusgehalt, Bodenstruktur, Erosionsschutz und Biodiversität einbezogen werden.The cultivation of non-frost tolerant catch crops with resistance against the beet cyst nematode is performed on almost 50% of the German sugar beet fields. Our study aimed to elucidate (i) the effect of weather variables during the growth period of catch crops on the biomass production of white mustard (Sinapis alba) and a species mixture including 7 legume and non-legume plant species. In addition, the influence of such catch crops on (ii) the amount of plant available soil water for subsequent sugar beet, and (iii) the risk of nitrate leaching over winter compared to a reference without catch crop (straw mulch) under the soil, climatic and management condition of Northern Germany was investigated. Field experiments were conducted in 15 environments (2012/13–2014/15, 5 sites per year).Correlation analysis revealed the mean daily rainfall after catch crop sowing until the end of September and the air temperature around mid-September as the main factors determining catch crop biomass production until beginning of November. The combination of both parame­ters explained up to 70% of the variation of the catch crop biomass. Parameters including the sowing date or the length of the growing season were not maintained in the multiple regression that was developed. Across all envi­ronments catch crop cultivation did not decrease the soil water content before and after winter compared to straw mulch, even if before winter it was significantly lower after straw mulch in 7 out of the 15 environments included. After winter such differences had completely disappeared. Thus, water consumption of catch crops mulched in late autumn did not shorten soil water supply for subsequent sugar beet crops.Both, cultivation of white mustard and species mixture substantially decreased the soil mineral nitrogen content before winter, which may indicate a lower risk of N leaching over winter. Nevertheless, when mulched in late autumn followed by mild temperatures and high rainfall over winter, N mineralization from catch crop residues may substantially increase the risk of N leaching.A comprehensive evaluation of the current practice of catch crop cultivation requires to take into account further aspects such as beet cyst nematode control, N2O emission, humus content, soil structure, erosion control and biodiversity

IEA SHC Task 42/ECES Annex 29 – A Simple Tool for the Economic Evaluation of Thermal Energy Storages

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling for Buildings and Industry (SHC 2015)Within the framework of IEA SHC Task 42 / ECES Annex 29, a simple tool for the economic evaluation of thermal energy storages has been developed and tested on various existing storages. On that account, the storage capacity costs (costs per installed storage capacity) of thermal energy storages have been evaluated via a Top-down and a Bottom-up approach. The Top-down approach follows the assumption that the costs of energy supplied by the storage should not exceed the costs of energy from the market. The maximum acceptable storage capacity costs depend on the interest rate assigned to the capital costs, the intended payback period of the user class (e.g. industry or building), the reference energy costs, and the annual number of storage cycles. The Bottom-up approach focuses on the realised storage capacity costs of existing storages. The economic evaluation via Top-down and Bottom-up approach is a valuable tool to make a rough estimate of the economic viability of an energy storage for a specific application. An important finding is that the annual number of storage cycles has the largest influence on the cost effectiveness. At present and with respect to the investigated storages, seasonal heat storage is only economical via large sensible hot water storages. Contrary, if the annual number of storage cycles is sufficiently high, all thermal energy storage technologies can become competitive.This study is part of IEA SHC Task 42 / ECES Annex 29 „Compact Thermal Energy Storage - Material Development and System Integration“ (http://task42.iea-shc.org). The work of ZAE Bayern is part of the project PC-Cools_V and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under the project code 03ESP138A. University of Zaragoza thanks the Spanish Government for the funding of their work under the projects ENE2008-06687-C02-02, ENE2011-28269-C03-01 and ENE2014-57262-R. University of Lleida would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2014 SGR 123). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovationprogramme under grant agreement No 657466 (INPATH-TES). Laia Miró would like to thank the Spanish Government for her research fellowship (BES-2012-051861). The University of the Basque Country acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the MicroTES (ENE2012- 38633) research project. The responsibility for the content of this publication is with the author

Generation of phase-controlled ultraviolet pulses and characterization by a simple autocorrelator setup

A versatile femtosecond ultraviolet (UV) pulse generation, a phase modulation, and a characterization setup for coherent control applications are demonstrated. For high-performance phase control of ultrashort pulses direct in the UV a microelectromechanical-system-based 2D mirror array is applied. Multiple examples for successful phase control of ultrashort UV pulses are given, such as arbitrarily phase tailoring and pulse recompression in open and closed loop schemes. For simple and effective characterization of the generated pulses, a UV autocorrelator based on two-photon absorption in a solar blind photomultiplier is constructed. The effects of space-time coupling on split mirror autocorrelation measurements are addressed and minimized. © 2009 Optical Society of America

TCR-transgenic T cells and YB-1-based oncolytic virotherapy improve survival in a preclinical Ewing sarcoma xenograft mouse model

BackgroundEwing sarcoma (EwS) is an aggressive and highly metastatic bone and soft tissue tumor in pediatric patients and young adults. Cure rates are low when patients present with metastatic or relapsed disease. Therefore, innovative therapy approaches are urgently needed. Cellular- and oncolytic virus-based immunotherapies are on the rise for solid cancers.MethodsHere, we assess the combination of EwS tumor-associated antigen CHM1319-specific TCR-transgenic CD8+ T cells and the YB-1-driven (i.e. E1A13S-deleted) oncolytic adenovirus XVir-N-31 in vitro and in a xenograft mouse model for antitumor activity and immunostimulatory properties.ResultsIn vitro both approaches specifically kill EwS cell lines in a synergistic manner over controls. This effect was confirmed in vivo, with increased survival using the combination therapy. Further in vitro analyses of immunogenic cell death and antigen presentation confirmed immunostimulatory properties of virus-infected EwS tumor cells. As dendritic cell maturation was also increased by XVir-N-31, we observed superior proliferation of CHM1319-specific TCR-transgenic CD8+ T cells only in virus-tested conditions, emphasizing the superior immune-activating potential of XVir-N-31.ConclusionOur data prove synergistic antitumor effects in vitro and superior tumor control in a preclinical xenograft setting. Combination strategies of EwS-redirected T cells and YB-1-driven virotherapy are a highly promising immunotherapeutic approach for EwS and warrant further evaluation in a clinical setting