Multi-criteria material selection for buildings in challenging environments

Climate change and future weather conditions are likely to challenge the way buildings are designed because there will be an increase in extreme climatic conditions. What should architects change in their design process to produce human habitats able to withstand those extreme conditions to ensure adequate comfort conditions? This paper presents preliminary results within the scope of an on-going research that addresses one single key issue: what materials will be most suitable in extreme temperature conditions. A set of 52 materials is analysed through a multi-criteria decision process that includes thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, thermal effusivity, linear thermal expansion, service temperature, fracture toughness, recycle potential and embodied carbon as criteria. The goals are to find the best-fit materials for each climate scenario within the scope of contradictory objectives and to develop a methodology for the selection of construction materials for buildings in challenging environments. Results show that the best possible material for extreme temperatures, whether it would be a very cold or a very hot environment, is one that could combine the properties of polymers with a very low environmental impact (at the level of the impact from materials such as natural fibres, wood or wood derivatives). The results thus suggest that further research may be directed at biomaterials development.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using Support Vector Machine Model for Fault Detection along a Water canal

This paper reports a work in progress, the training of a Support Vector Machine model to detect faults in an experimental water supply canal. The work took place at the experimental canal of Núcleo de Hidráulica e Controlo de Canais at the Universidade de Évora. The main objective is to identify faults in the water depth sensors and to detect unauthorized water withdrawals using pattern recognition. The preliminary accuracy tests, in and out of sample, have shown an accuracy over 90% to identify 28 different patterns

Designing and building for extreme environments. A multi-criteria decision model to evaluate architecture for extreme temperatures

The purpose of this research is to present an assessment methodology that validates architecture designs for environments with extreme temperatures, considering structural and energy demands, as well as sustainability-related concerns. This is achieved using multi-criteria decision analysis modelling. This study presents the results of a MCDA model built for this purpose, and evaluated through four variations representing different project scenarios. A total of 11 criteria (regarding energy efficiency, material performance, architectural performance and circularity) are used to analyse four building assemblies, in order to understand which is more appropriate for an environment with extremely cold and extremely hot temperatures. This allows the validation of the proposed multi-criteria analysis framework, which will lead to further research on extreme climate design.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Building materials with historical and heritage interest – A database in progress

Conservation and restoration of architectural heritage requires knowledge of the conservation state of its constituent materials in order to provide recommendations concerning the intervention plan, and the materials and the techniques to be used. Information on physical, chemical and mechanical characterization of materials, when available, is usually shared by different actors, but is not normally accessible by the general public. In this context, the DB-HERITAGE project intends to build a reference sample collection or repository for historical materials and an IT-tool to collect the related data on construction materials history, properties, and performance. This database is being developed to categorize materials by type and function, addressing the relevant issues in the historical context of construction materials. An overview of the database tools will be presented in this paper, exemplifying some of its outputs

Editorial: Obesogens in the XXI century: Emerging health challenges

The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically in recent decades. Obesity is a major public health problem, recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the most important public health challenges of the 21st century (1). Therefore, preventing obesity is a public health priority for adults, children, and adolescents. This is especially important because overweight and obese children are likely to remain obese into adulthood and are more likely to develop non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a younger age. Several factors are thought to be involved in the obesity pandemic, but in recent years the focus has been on exposure to specific environmental pollutants, the obesogens. The obesogen hypothesis was postulated in 2006 by Grün and Blumberg (2). The authors found that tributyltin could induce adipogenesis in vitro and in vivo. This “simple” finding was a huge breakthrough in Endocrinology and Metabolism. In these almost two decades, a significant body of evidence was gathered, and currently, obesogens have been considered key actors in the obesity epidemic

Signalling pathways in pollen germination and tube growth

Summary. Signalling is an integral component in the establishment and maintenance of cellular identity. In plants, tip-growing cells represent an ideal system to investigate signal transduction mechanisms, and among these, pollen tubes (PTs) are one of the favourite models. Many signalling pathways have been identified during germination and tip growth, namely, Ca2+, calmodulin, phosphoinositides, protein kinases, cyclic AMP, and GTPases. These constitute a large and complex web of signalling networks that intersect at various levels such as the control of vesicle targeting and fusion and the physical state of the actin cytoskeleton. Here we discuss some of the most recent advances made in PT signal transduction cascades and their implications for our future research. For reasons of space, emphasis was given to signalling mechanisms that control PT reorientation, so naturally many other relevant works have not been cited

A living system - Discursive wall

We feel and perceive the built environment through our senses and our body's interactive movement (Diniz 2008). In this paper we propose a DiscursiveWall that physically responds to movement, interacting spatially and temporally with the environment and its inhabitants. In addition, we intend to solve spatial acoustical issues related to sound reverberation. Based on the theory of Autopoiesis (Maturana & Varela 1980), the discursive wall acts as a self producing system. In response to movement sensors installed in the room, the cork surface elements of the wall move back and forth. Therefore, the inhabitants of the room make the wall mutate continuously, thus redesigning itself. This is produced by several components like sensors, bearing systems and test motors. A set of arduinos processes and distributes the information received from the sensors and receives back the animation data generated by Grasshopper and Firefly (plug-ins for Rhino software). The methodology that supports this prototype explores the real possibility of the architecture to enter into a direct dialog with its inhabitants and surrounding space.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Dynamics of bovine intramammary infections due to coagulase-negative staphylococci on four farms

The objectives of this study were to compare the impact of different coagulase-negative species (CNS) on udder health measured in terms of individual quarter milk somatic cell count (SCC) and duration of intramammary infection, and to get some insight into most likely routes of infection for different CNS species. This longitudinal observational study was performed on four farms that were sampled at 4-week intervals for a total of 12 visits each. Quarters infected with CNS were followed through time with milk samples being submitted for bacteriological culture and SCC determination. PCR amplification of the internal transcribed spacer region and sequencing of the sodA and rpoB genes were used for species allocation. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed to assess strain identity. The percentage of quarters affected per farm varied between 6 and 35%, with the most frequently isolated CNS species being Staphylococcus epidermidis, followed by Staph. simulans, Staph. chromogenes and Staph. haemolyticus. It was possible to follow 111 intramammary infections due to CNS through time. Duration of infection had a mean of 188 d and was not significantly different between CNS species. Geometric mean quarter SCC overall was 132 000 cells/ml and was also not significantly different between CNS species. Despite the possibility of a different epidemiology of infection, the impact in terms of udder health seems to be similar for different CNS species