Energy and Water Monitoring for a Large Social Housing Intervention in Northern Italy

In recent years, the awareness of the problem of the performance gap and rebound effect extends the interest in assessing the real operation of buildings, in assessing how buildings match users' needs once they are occupied, and in understanding how occupants' behavior affects the actual building performance. The paper discusses the case study and presents the results of a monitoring campaign of 2 years of occupancy of a large social housing intervention recently built near Milan, for a total of 152 flats. Data about the thermal energy consumption for heating and cooling, the domestic hot and cold water use, and the occupants' intervention on controlling devices are assessed and presented. The case study is representative of the actual design and construction of high-performing multi-family buildings in Italy. All the buildings are class A rated, very highly insulated, and ventilated with centralized mechanical ventilation systems with thermodynamic heat recovery. Centralized water-to-water heat pumps supply hot and refrigerated water for heating and cooling and domestic hot water as well. A building monitoring system is installed, able to track energy and water consumption, factors influencing the energy consumption not related to the building characteristics (weather data, operational setting) as well as the overall building performance data. The results show unexpected high energy and water consumption and moreover a large variability of the energy and water consumption pattern among the dwellings and between the years due to the significant influence of the occupants' behavior and habits

Structural and functional properties of plant mitochondrial F-ATP synthase

The mitochondrial F-ATP synthase is responsible for coupling the transmembrane proton gradient, generated through the inner membrane by the electron transport chain, to the synthesis of ATP. This enzyme shares a basic architecture with the prokaryotic and chloroplast ones, since it is composed of a catalytic head (F1), located in the mitochondrial matrix, a membrane-bound part (FO), together with a central and a peripheral stalk. In this review we compare the structural and functional properties of F-ATP synthase in plant mitochondria with those of yeast and mammals. We also present the physiological impact of the alteration of F-ATP synthase in plants, with a special regard to its involvement in cytoplasmic male sterility. Furthermore, we show the involvement of this enzyme in plant stress responses. Finally, we discuss the role of F-ATP synthase in shaping the curvature of the mitochondrial inner membrane and in permeability transition pore formation

A Simulation-Based Optimization Method for the Integrative Design of the Building Envelope

AbstractAn effective design of green buildings requires a process of optimization to meet all the sustainability goals through an integrative design approach. The research focuses on the development of a replicable methodology for the optimization of the building features that affects specifically the energy demand and indoor comfort conditions.Optimal design solutions are found following two steps: minimization of the total energy demand for heating, cooling and lighting coupling TRNSYS®, a dynamic simulation software, and GenOpt®, a Generic optimization program; a post-processing analysis considering thermal and visual comfort aspects. This optimization methodology was conducted on a school classroom case-study

Possible effects of pramipexole on neck muscles in a patient with Parkinson's disease

Recent case reports suggest a possible causal correlation between antecollis and pramipexole. Here, we report the case of a 62-year-old Italian man with a 2-year history of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and cervical spondylosis for which he was treated with pramipexole. He developed severe neck rigidity immediately after an inguinal hernia operation but several months after introduction of pramipexole. He was initially treated with painkillers and physiotherapy with no significant improvement. His condition deteriorated presenting disproportionate rigidity between anterior and posterior neck muscles (antecollis) to the extent that normal activities were severely restricted. However, significant improvement occurred after the withdrawal of pramipexole. The patient undertook a second cycle of physiotherapy with remarkable results and returned to function normally in everyday life. This case report suggests that neurologists should be motivated to inform the scientific community about other possible cases in which an association between antecollis and pramipexole might operate in PD

Caspase-3-like activity and proteasome degradation in grapevine suspension cell cultures undergoing silver-induced programmed cell death

Toxic metal contamination is one of the major environmental concerns of the recent decade, due to the large application of metals in industrial, healthcare and commercial products, even in the form of nanostructures and nanomaterials. Nevertheless, the effects of silver (Ag+) on plants have not yet thoroughly elucidated. Therefore, suspension cell cultures of grapevine were used as a model for investigating silver toxicity. To do this, oxidative stress and programmed cell death (PCD), evaluated as reactive oxygen species production, caspase-3-like activity and ubiquitin-proteasome system, were investigated. As a result, the highest concentration (10 \u3bcM) of Ag+ caused a rapid (within 24 h) induction of PCD (approx. 80%), accompanied by generation of reactive oxygen species and activation of caspase-3-like activity. In the presence of specific inhibitor of this enzyme, a partial recovery of cell viability and a strong inhibition of caspase- 3-like activity was observed. In addition, silver-induced PCD was accompanied either by increase of poly-ubiquitin conjugated proteins and degradation of subunit PBA1 of the proteasome 20S core, similarly to what found for metal-induced neurotoxicity in animals. The present study shows that silver could induce PCD in grapevine suspension cell cultures, mediated by caspase-3-like activity and oxidative stress. These effects were associated to accumulation of poly-ubiquitin conjugated proteins, suggesting the impairment of ubiquitin-proteasome complex, confirmed by the decrease of the PBA1 subunit. These findings indicate that animal and plant cells could share a common pathway in response to toxic metal, which involves PCD and disassembling of proteasome complex

Multiphoton Label-Free ex-vivo imaging using a custom-built dual-wavelength microscope with chromatic aberrations compensation

Label-Free Multiphoton Microscopy is a very powerful optical microscopy that can be applied to study samples with no need for exogenous fluorescent probes, keeping the main benefits of a Multiphoton approach, like longer penetration depths and intrinsic optical sectioning, while opening the possibility of serial examinations with different kinds of techniques. Among the many variations of Label-Free MPM, Higher Harmonic Generation (HHG) is one of the most intriguing due to its generally low photo-toxicity, which enables the examination of specimens particularly susceptible to photo-damages. HHG and common Two-Photon Microscopy (TPM) are well-established techniques, routinely used in several research fields. However, they require a significant amount of fine-tuning in order to be fully exploited and, usually, the optimized conditions greatly differ, making them quite difficult to perform in parallel without any compromise on the extractable information. Here we present our custom-built Multiphoton microscope capable of performing simultaneously TPM and HHG without any kind of compromise on the results thanks to two, separate, individually optimized laser sources with full chromatic aberration compensation. We also apply our setup to the examination of a plethora of ex vivo samples in order to prove the significant advantages of our approach

Building for a Zero Carbon future: Trade-off between carbon dioxide emissions and primary energy approaches

Growing urbanization is driving urban policy makers to adopt sustainable practices aimed to limit the environmental impact of buildings which are responsible for an estimated 36% of climate-changing gas emissions in European cities. In order to meet the ambitious emission reduction targets set by the EU it is essential to develop policy for CO2 emissions saving. This work investigates the regulations of European countries that introduce carbon compliance requirement as implementation of the EPBD such as UK, Ireland, Austria and some Eastern European countries. With reference to the typical consumption pattern of an Italian home, the paper analyses the current limits of primary energy, RES requirements and CO2 emissions, investigating the relations between EPnren and carbon dioxide emissions levels