Passive house optimization for Southern Italy based on the “New Passivhaus Standard”

The IEE Passive-On project has drafted a proposal to adapt that Standard to the conditions that characterize Southern Europe, which is described in this paper together with its rationale. Compared with the original definition, one of the main changes is the introduction of explicit requirements on internal comfort during summer, in parallel to a limit to energy needs for cooling. The dynamic simulations conducted to test the new definition of the Standard in the context of Southern Italy (e.g. Palermo) show that the requirements identified by the Passivhaus Standard can be met by simplifying the envelope technologies (e.g. relaxing air-tightness design value) used in the context of Central Europe and adopting passive cooling strategies appropriately adjusted. Some simplifications of the ventilation system can be compensated by an increased role of thermal insulation of the building envelope and some of the choices can make energy needs tend to zero. In accordance with EN15251, thermal comfort is characterized according to Fanger’s PMV in cases where mechanical cooling is still required for peak situations, and according to the adaptive model where no mechanical cooling is required

Evaluation of building envelope retrofit techniques for reducing energy needs for space cooling.

One of the fastest growing sources of new energy demand is space cooling. According to EU-studies a four-fold growth in air-conditioned space is likely to take place between 1990 and 2020. The energy savings achievable in the end-use space cooling depend on a number of variables related to the building envelope, the plants and to some extent the behaviour of occupants. They are hence complex to evaluate and consequently often underrepresented in energy efficiency programmes and National Plans. This paper is based on some preliminary results of the IEE project KeepCool 2. It discusses in particular: a methodology for bottom-up assessment of the energy savings related to "sustainable summer comfort" solutions; reference base case building typologies are analyzed in 5 European climates, and dynamic simulations are used to calculate the reductions in the energy need for cooling which can be achieved by specific retrofit actions (e.g. additions of effective solar protections, increased thermal insulation, night ventilation, increase of active mass by PCM, low solar absorbance surfaces,...); situations where mechanical cooling can be avoided are evaluated using the Adaptive Comfort model, according to the norm EN 15251. case studies of buildings with good summer comfort and low energy consumption performances, according to the ten steps of the KC2 procedure. the analysis of case studies of "comfort policies" adopted by public and private bodies to ensure summer comfort with low energy consumption (commitments to give priority to heat load reductions instead of introducing mechanical cooling, relaxed dress codes, low thermal insulation chairs, local air velocity increase)

Electromechanical tuning of vertically-coupled photonic crystal nanobeams

We present the design, the fabrication and the characterization of a tunable one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal cavity (PCC) etched on two vertically-coupled GaAs nanobeams. A novel fabrication method which prevents their adhesion under capillary forces is introduced. We discuss a design to increase the flexibility of the structure and we demonstrate a large reversible and controllable electromechanical wavelength tuning (> 15 nm) of the cavity modes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Why orthotic devices could be of help in the management of Movement Disorders in the young

BACKGROUND: Movement Disorders (MD) are a class of disease that impair the daily activities of patients, conditioning their sensorimotor, cognitive and behavioural capabilities. Nowadays, the general management of patients with MD is based on rehabilitation, pharmacological treatments, surgery, and traditional splints. Although some attempts have been made to devise specific orthoses for the rehabilitation of patients affected by MD, especially the younger ones, those devices have received limited attention. MAIN BODY: This paper will principally discuss the case of upper limb rehabilitation in Childhood Dyskinesia (CD), a complex motor disease that affects paediatric patients. Through a critical review of the present solutions and a discussion about the neurophysiological characteristics of the disease, the study will lead to the formulation of desirable features of a possible new upper-limb orthosis. CONCLUSIONS: Design principles will be derived to provide specialised orthoses for the dynamic control of posture and the stabilisation of voluntary movements: those include using biomechanical actions and enhanced proprioception to support the sensorimotor rehabilitation of the children affected by CD. A similar approach could be advantageously applied in other MD-related conditions, especially with hyperkinetic and/or hypertonic traits

Defense Department Original Transformation Proposal: Compared to Existing Law

The Department of Defense (DOD) has sent the Congress a major proposal entitled “Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act of 2003”on April 10, 2003. This report briefly summarizes and presents all of the sections of the original DOD proposal in a side by side with the relevant provisions in current law, if they exist, that would have been affected by the proposal. The idea is to provide a “road map” that relates each section of the proposal to existing law. Provisions from the Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 specific to the Department of Homeland Security are separately listed from the rest of the existing law, and are the most recently enacted changes to Title 5

Defense Department Original Transformation Proposal: Compared to Existing Law

The Department of Defense (DOD) has sent the Congress a major proposal entitled “Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act of 2003”on April 10, 2003. This report briefly summarizes and presents all of the sections of the original DOD proposal in a side by side with the relevant provisions in current law, if they exist, that would have been affected by the proposal. The idea is to provide a “road map” that relates each section of the proposal to existing law. Provisions from the Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 specific to the Department of Homeland Security are separately listed from the rest of the existing law, and are the most recently enacted changes to Title 5

Functional evaluation of circulating hematopoietic progenitors in Noonan syndrome

Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant disorder, characterized by short stature, multiple dysmorphisms and congenital heart defects. A myeloproliferative disorder (NS/MPD), resembling juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), is occasionally diagnosed in infants with NS. In the present study, we performed a functional evaluation of the circulating hematopoietic progenitors in a series of NS, NS/MPD and JMML patients. The different functional patterns were compared with the aim to identify a possible NS subgroup worthy of stringent hematological follow-up for an increased risk of MPD development. We studied 27 NS and 5 JMML patients fulfilling EWOG-MDS criteria. The more frequent molecular defects observed in NS were mutations in the PTPN11 and SOS genes. The absolute count of monocytes, circulating CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitors, their apoptotic rate and the number of circulating CFU-GMs cultured in the presence of decreasing concentrations or in the absence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were evaluated. All JMML patients showed monocytosis >1,000/μl. Ten out of the 27 NS patients showed monocytosis >1,000/μl, which included the 3 NS/MPD patients. In JMML patients, circulating CD34(+) cells were significantly increased (median, 109.8/μl; range, 44–232) with a low rate of apoptosis (median, 2.1%; range, 0.4–12.1%), and circulating CFU-GMs were hyper-responsive to GM-CSF. NS/MPD patients showed the same flow cytometric pattern as the JMML patients (median, CD34(+) cells/μl, 205.7; range, 58–1374; median apoptotic rate, 1.4%; range, 0.2–2.4%) and their circulating CFU-GMs were hyper-responsive to GM-CSF. These functional alterations appeared 10 months before the typical clinical manifestations in 1 NS/MPD patient. In NS, the CD34(+) absolute cell count and circulating CFU-GMs showed a normal pattern (median CD34(+) cells/μl, 4.9; range, 1.3–17.5), whereas the CD34(+) cell apoptotic rate was significantly decreased in comparison with the controls (median, 8.6%; range, 0–27.7% vs. median, 17.6%; range, 2.8–49.6%), suggesting an increased CD34(+) cell survival. The functional evaluation of circulating hematopoietic progenitors showed specific patterns in NS and NS/MPD. These tests are a reliable integrative tool that, together with clinical data and other hematological parameters, could help detect NS patients with a high risk for a myeloproliferative evolution