Exploration in Using Algae to Enhance Indoor Environment in the Tropical Climate

This paper discusses an exploration in algae application as a sun shading device for buildings. Four basic algae photobioreactors were constructed to investigate the effectiveness of Chlorella species to reduce direct sunlight transmission and solar heat gain in the Tropical climate of Kuala Lumpur. From the experiment, algae flat panel photobioreactor with direct carbon dioxide supply manage to reduce up to 44.9% of heat gain due to solar radiation on average. The overall solar transmission was also reduced to only 25% on average. These indicate that algae have the potential to be used as sun shading material for buildings

Enhancing Urban Sustainability through Green Roofs: A Thermal Performance Evaluation in Dubai

The Dubai Municipality has launched the ‘Green Roofs Awareness Initiative’ to achieve a green area per capita of 23.4 m2 in the city. Given the numerous symptoms caused by the unprecedented urban expansion, green roofs and facades can provide various benefits to the city. This study intends to develop an evaluation method for the performance of green roofs (artificial ground reforestation) by quantifying the thermal environment functionality of a low-maintenance lightweight green roof. As a methodology, this study analyzed the change in the thermal environment of the surface, including sensible heat and latent heat, using four types of plants, namely Polytrichum Commune (PC), Thuidium Kanedae (TK), Anomobryum Filiforme (AF), and Kentucky Bluegrass (KB). The results showed that PC reduced the ground surface temperature by 2.58°C to 3.81°C while planting PC increased relative humidity (RH) from 48.0% to 93.3%. KB had the highest effect on humidity control, resulting in a 49.31% increase in RH. Regarding the temperature change by ground surface type, the surface temperature was 0.4 ~ 0.9°C lower for PC, AF, and TK at 18 ~ 24°C, while KB showed a 0.5 ± 0.2°C lower than the set temperature. KB did not show any significant change in temperature up to 24°C, but as the set temperature increased from 30 to 36°C, the surface temperature decreased remarkably. This research provides primary data that will serve to raise awareness, reduce installation costs, and systemize government support for green roofs in Dubai

The practice of life cycle cost in Malaysia construction industry: a review / Wan Nur Hamizah Wan Hassan, Norhanim Zakaria and Muhammad Azzam Ismail

Life cycle cost (LCC) is a concept and practices that seem ambiguously understood in the construction industry in Malaysia. This paper reports on the initial phase of the study and its results. The initial study was carried out through the literature review on LCC in general and focuses on the application of LCC in Malaysia. The main focus on this study is to identify the current practice and the enhancement of the LCC in construction projects. There are six (6) practitioners in construction industry that been interviewed in related to the research study. The outcome of this research shows that most of the practitioners are aware on the term and concepts of the LCC but did not apply in their construction projects. There are few challenges are listed and their opinions on the solution to solve the lack of application LCC. The paper also identifies the elements cost and evaluation method used in developing the LCC plan

Triangulation Method to Assess Indoor Environmental Conditions and Occupant Comfort and Productivity towards Low Energy Buildings in Malaysia

Saving energy and cutting costs without compromising indoor comfort conditions are challenging, especially in hot and humid regions such as Malaysia. This study explores a new approach to reducing energy consumption without compromising staff comfort in office buildings. This study aims to develop a method for lowering Building Energy Index (BEI) and maintaining acceptable indoor conditions while increasing productivity in office buildings. A developed triangulation method using Building Use Studies (BUS) for evaluating occupant satisfaction, physical measurements, and simulation modelling was implemented to measure indoor performance in an office building. The results indicated that enhancing six variables of building conditions managed to improve the occupant satisfaction by 44%. Hence, the productivity of staff in the building in-creased by 16%. The findings demonstrated that a reduction of 3 h in the operating times of chillers while an increase in chillers’ temperature by 1.5 °C maintained an acceptable indoor environment and reduced the building’s BEI to 89.48 kWh/m2/year, with an energy saving of 21.51%, turning the case study into a low energy building

Methods of harvesting water from air for sustainable buildings in hot and tropical climates

A rapid rise in demand for fresh and potable water every day has impacted global water resources that become an international matter of significant concern in keeping with the global population's fast growth. Although tropical countries receive abundant rainfall levels throughout the year, the lack of access and supply of clean water in many rural areas in this region considers an environmental challenge of this century. Atmospheric air represents a reservoir of clean water with an estimated quantity of 12,900 km3, while the amount of renewable fresh water on the planet is approximately 12,500 km3. Therefore, there is a need for new sustainable methods to provide a supplementary water supply for buildings. This research aims to examine passive methods and mechanisms of extracting water from ambient air that can be used in tropical buildings compared to rainwater harvesting systems. The methodology is based on a comprehensive review to explore the potential methods, challenges and opportunities for collecting atmospheric water on-site in the tropics. Analytical evaluation of approaches, mechanisms, systems' productivity and performance was conducted. The research results revealed two technical ways that would be effective to extract water from humid air, namely: regenerative solar desiccant/collector and dew water condensation systems. This study would help to shape the application of Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) that is expected to be more cost-effective, sustainable and adaptable to tropical building applications

Performance evaluation of solar-powered atmospheric water harvesting using different glazing materials in the tropical built environment: an experimental study

Water scarcity is a global issue, and its severity is expected to worsen in the near future, prompting further efforts to find new sources of freshwater. Solar-Powered Atmospheric Water Harvesting (SPAWH) is a promising passive approach for atmospheric water generation. This study aims to examine the thermal performance of different glazing materials and water production in SPAWH. The research consists of two phases: a laboratory test of various glazing materials and an experimental study to assess system efficiency in producing water in the tropics. The preliminary results indicated that glass demonstrated better thermal performance than acrylic in the lab, with higher thermal conductivity and less heat loss. The experimental findings showed that the maximum water produced by the proposed SPAWH (60 cm length, 60 cm width and 30 cm height) placed on a 30° tilt angle using glass (3 mm) and acrylic (3 mm) was 0.61 L/m2/day and 0.44 L/m2/day, respectively. The cost analysis revealed that produced water costs $0.18/kg for glass and$0.40/kg for acrylic, respectively. Atmospheric water could be harvested using SPAWH in the tropics, which would help to provide new opportunities for sustainable water supplies and development in these regions

Exploring the environmental performance of liquid glass coating using Sol-Gel technology and responsive Venetian blinds in the tropics

The dynamic nature of tropical skies presents challenges for the built environment due to the momentous fluctuations and instability in solar irradiance and illuminance levels that cause limitations in responding to the needs of the indoor environment. The study aims to investigate the performance of daylighting strategies using liquid glass coating and responsive Venetian blinds in an office building in the tropics. The objective of this study is to systematically examine the impacts of proposed strategies on indoor environmental conditions. The study was experimentally investigated by utilising field measurements in full-scale cellular offices in a real environment and simulation using Radiance. The results indicated that responsive Venetian blinds provided steady daylight levels between 375 lx and 588 lx in the centre of the room, while a further integration with liquid glass coating provided a glare control with a maximum of 33.71% (Imperceptible) using Daylight Glare Probability. The indoor air temperature was reduced by 3.42 °C with liquid glass coating and 2.85 °C with responsive Venetian blinds. The outputs of assessing the performance of static and responsive strategies demonstrated new findings that are significant to developing these strategies in the tropics

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Measuring routine childhood vaccination coverage in 204 countries and territories, 1980-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020, Release 1

Background Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilities. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020, Release 1, we did a systematic analysis of global, regional, and national vaccine coverage trends using a statistical framework, by vaccine and over time. Methods For this analysis we collated 55 326 country-specific, cohort-specific, year-specific, vaccine-specific, and dosespecific observations of routine childhood vaccination coverage between 1980 and 2019. Using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, we produced location-specific and year-specific estimates of 11 routine childhood vaccine coverage indicators for 204 countries and territories from 1980 to 2019, adjusting for biases in countryreported data and reflecting reported stockouts and supply disruptions. We analysed global and regional trends in coverage and numbers of zero-dose children (defined as those who never received a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [DTP] vaccine dose), progress towards GVAP targets, and the relationship between vaccine coverage and sociodemographic development. Findings By 2019, global coverage of third-dose DTP (DTP3; 81.6% [95% uncertainty interval 80.4-82 .7]) more than doubled from levels estimated in 1980 (39.9% [37.5-42.1]), as did global coverage of the first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1; from 38.5% [35.4-41.3] in 1980 to 83.6% [82.3-84.8] in 2019). Third- dose polio vaccine (Pol3) coverage also increased, from 42.6% (41.4-44.1) in 1980 to 79.8% (78.4-81.1) in 2019, and global coverage of newer vaccines increased rapidly between 2000 and 2019. The global number of zero-dose children fell by nearly 75% between 1980 and 2019, from 56.8 million (52.6-60. 9) to 14.5 million (13.4-15.9). However, over the past decade, global vaccine coverage broadly plateaued; 94 countries and territories recorded decreasing DTP3 coverage since 2010. Only 11 countries and territories were estimated to have reached the national GVAP target of at least 90% coverage for all assessed vaccines in 2019. Interpretation After achieving large gains in childhood vaccine coverage worldwide, in much of the world this progress was stalled or reversed from 2010 to 2019. These findings underscore the importance of revisiting routine immunisation strategies and programmatic approaches, recentring service delivery around equity and underserved populations. Strengthening vaccine data and monitoring systems is crucial to these pursuits, now and through to 2030, to ensure that all children have access to, and can benefit from, lifesaving vaccines. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe