Experimental data and simulations of performance and thermal comfort in a patient room equipped with radiant ceiling panels

Hospitals require the highest energy demands in non-residential buildings. They provide healthcare 24/7/365 and, at the same time, they ensure indoor air quality, thermal comfort and sterility. However, several studies reveal that high indoor temperatures and low relative humidity (RH) are often perceived in patient rooms during the heating season, suggesting an important energy saving potential. Against this background, radiant ceiling panel (RCP) systems result to be one of the most appropriate solutions as they allow to achieve significant energy savings while providing the highest level of thermal and acoustic comfort, as well as of infection control. In the present study the microclimatic survey of a patient room at Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, Italy, equipped with an air conditioning system integrated with RCP, has reported occupant thermal discomfort. Experimental data were used to calibrate a building model and dynamic building energy simulations were carried out to analyse indoor air temperature, relative humidity, predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) indexes under different inlet air temperatures, to identify the best design conditions for energy efficiency and thermal comfort improvement. It was found that the highest advantages can be obtained when neutral air is supplied

ESPACIOS, TRADICIONES Y CAMBIOS EN CONCHUCOS. Ecos desde la Escuela de etnografía del Proyecto “Antonio Raimondi”, Ancash Perú

Este volumen nace con dos finalidades precisas. La primera, dar a conocer los trabajos de investigación etnográfica que un grupo de nueve estudiantes de la Universidad de Bologna (Italia) y otro de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú han desarrollado en la provincia de Huari, Ancash, Perú, durante seis años, entre 2003 y 2008 en el marco del Proyecto Arqueológico y Antropológico “Antonio Raimondi”. La segunda finalidad es realizar la difusión de las únicas miradas etnográficas que hasta hoy se han producido sobre la región Conchucos. Otro objetivo, más teórico y más implícito, es desplegar a lo largo del camino de la lectura de los casos etnográficos, una visión processual y dinamista de la escritura etnográfica y de la especulación antropológica, procedente de una manera precisa de hacer trabajo de campo. Los artículos aquí propuestos presentan, mediante varios estilos y diferentes acercamientos, una realidad sociocultural en movimiento, en constante cambio. Construyendo cuadros de varios aspectos sociales, políticos y culturales de la provincia de Huari, los autores delinean un escenario en proceso en el cual diferentes actores, ámbitos y dinámicas socioculturales se interrelacionan, participando de maneras diferents en la transformación

Guillain-Barré syndrome and adjuvanted pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine: multinational case-control study in Europe

Objective To assess the association between pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine and Guillain-Barré syndrome

Optimizing Current Collector Interfaces for Efficient “Anode-Free” Lithium Metal Batteries

Current lithium (Li)-metal anodes are not sustainable for the mass production of future energy storage devices because they are inherently unsafe, expensive, and environmentally unfriendly. The anode-free concept, in which a current collector (CC) is directly used as the host to plate Li-metal, by using only the Li content coming from the positive electrode, could unlock the development of highly energy-dense and low-cost rechargeable batteries. Unfortunately, dead Li-metal forms during cycling, leading to a progressive and fast capacity loss. Therefore, the optimization of the CC/electrolyte interface and modifications of CC designs are key to producing highly efficient anode-free batteries with liquid and solid-state electrolytes. Lithiophilicity and electronic conductivity must be tuned to optimize the plating process of Li-metal. This review summarizes the recent progress and key findings in the CC design (e.g. 3D structures) and its interaction with electrolytes

Hexavalent Ions Insertion in Garnet Li7La3Zr2O12 Toward a Low Temperature Densification Reaction

Nowadays, solid electrolytes are considered the main alternative to conventional liquid electrolytes in lithium batteries. The fabrication of these materials is however limited by the strict synthesis conditions, requiring high temperatures which can negatively impact the final performances. Here, it is shown that a modification of garnet-based Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) and the incorporation of tellurium can accelerate the synthesis process by lowering the formation temperature of cubic LLZO at temperatures below 700 °C. Optimized synthesis at 750 °C showed a decrease in particle size and cell parameter for samples with higher amounts of Te and the evaluation of electrochemical performances reported for LLZO Te0.25 a value of ionic conductivity of 5,15×10−5 S cm−1 after hot-pressing at 700 °C, two orders of magnitude higher than commercial Al-LLZO undergoing the same working conditions, and the highest value at this densification temperature. Partial segregation of Te-rich phases occurs for high-temperature densification. Our study shows the advantages of Te insertion on the sintering process of LLZO garnet and demonstrates the achievement of highly conductive LLZO with a low-temperature treatment

CodeMapper: semiautomatic coding of case definitions. A contribution from the ADVANCE project

Abstract Background: Assessment of drug and vaccine effects by combining information from different healthcare databases in the European Union requires extensive efforts in the harmonization of codes as different vocabularies are being used across countries. In this paper, we present a web application called CodeMapper, which assists in the mapping of case definitions to codes from different vocabularies, while keeping a transparent record of the complete mapping process. Methods: CodeMapper builds upon coding vocabularies contained in the Metathesaurus of the Unified Medical Language System. The mapping approach consists of three phases. First, medical concepts are automatically identified in a free‐text case definition. Second, the user revises the set of medical concepts by adding or removing concepts, or expanding them to related concepts that are more general or more specific. Finally, the selected concepts are projected to codes from the targeted coding vocabularies. We evaluated the application by comparing codes that were automatically generated from case definitions by applying CodeMapper's concept identification and successive concept expansion, with reference codes that were manually created in a previous epidemiological study. Results: Automated concept identification alone had a sensitivity of 0.246 and positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.420 for reproducing the reference codes. Three successive steps of concept expansion increased sensitivity to 0.953 and PPV to 0.616. Conclusions: Automatic concept identification in the case definition alone was insufficient to reproduce the reference codes, but CodeMapper's operations for concept expansion provide an effective, efficient, and transparent way for reproducing the reference codes

Regional Selection Acting on the OFD1 Gene Family

The OFD1 (oral-facial-digital, type 1) gene is implicated in several developmental disorders in humans. The X-linked OFD1 (OFD1X) is conserved in Eutheria. Knowledge about the Y-linked paralog (OFD1Y) is limited. In this study, we identified an OFD1Y on the bovine Y chromosome, which is expressed differentially from the bovine OFD1X. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that: a) the eutherian OFD1X and OFD1Y were derived from the pair of ancestral autosomes during sex chromosome evolution; b) the autosomal OFD1 pseudogenes, present in Catarrhini and Murinae, were derived from retropositions of OFD1X after the divergence of primates and rodents; and c) the presence of OFD1Y in the ampliconic region of the primate Y chromosome is an indication that the expansion of the ampliconic region may initiate from the X-degenerated sequence. In addition, we found that different regions of OFD1/OFD1X/OFD1Y are under differential selection pressures. The C-terminal half of OFD1 is under relaxed selection with an elevated Ka/Ks ratio and clustered positively selected sites, whereas the N-terminal half is under stronger constraints. This study provides some insights into why the OFD1X gene causes OFD1 (male-lethal X-linked dominant) and SGBS2 & JSRDs (X-linked recessive) syndromes in humans, and reveals the origin and evolution of the OFD1 family, which will facilitate further clinical investigation of the OFD1-related syndromes