design and performance analysis of a zero energy settlement in greece

Zero-energy and zero-carbon buildings would be a huge opportunity for contrasting the climatic changes and, more in general, the deterioration of the microclimate inside and around cities. About it, a question appears compulsory: are zero-energy and zero-carbon concepts applicable at urban scale? This paper tries to answer to this question, by discussing the possible effects of the application of appropriate city planning techniques when a new settlement is designed. An integrated approach to urban planning is applied to a case study, for promoting the design of buildings with very low (or zero) energy needs, characterized by high indoor comfort conditions, by taking into consideration whole city areas, with different kinds of services. Passive heating, cooling and daylighting techniques have been combined, as well as the integration of renewable sources, in order to minimize the energy demand and environmental impact, for having a sustainable 'urban balance' and, in general, a sustainable urban growth. As real case study, the design of the holiday village 'Olympiad' is presented; it should be built in an unstructured seaside area in Greece. Several indexes are introduced to evaluate the global sustainability of the settlement, through the application of the definition of 'on-grid ZEB', with reference to each building as well as for the entire village. This kind of research could help city planners for a growth inspired to general goals of urban sustainability

Assessment of DNA Topoisomerase I Unwinding Activity, Radical Scavenging Capacity, and Inhibition of Breast Cancer Cell Viability of <i>N</i>-alkyl-acridones and <i>N</i>,<i>N′</i>-dialkyl-9,9′-biacridylidenes

The anticancer activity of acridone derivatives has attracted increasing interest, therefore, a variety of substituted analogs belonging to this family have been developed and evaluated for their anti-cancer properties. A series of N-alkyl-acridones 1&#8722;6 and N,N&#8242;-dialkyl-9,9&#8242;-biacridylidenes 7&#8722;12 with variable alkyl chains were examined for their topoisomerase I activity at neutral and acidic conditions as well as for their binding capacity to calf thymus and possible radical trapping antioxidant activity. It was found that at a neutral pH, topoisomerase I activity of both classes of compounds was similar, while under acidic conditions, enhanced intercalation was observed. N-alkyl-acridone derivatives 1&#8722;6 exhibited stronger, dose-dependent, cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 human breast epithelial cancer cells than N,N&#8242;-dialkyl-9,9&#8242;-biacridylidenes 7&#8722;12, revealing that conjugation of the heteroaromatic system plays a significant role on the effective distribution of the compound in the intracellular environment. Cellular investigation of long alkyl derivatives against cell migration exhibited 40&#8722;50% wound healing effects and cytoplasm diffusion, while compounds with shorter alkyl chains were accumulated both in the nucleus and cytoplasm. All N,N&#8242;-dialkyl-9,9&#8242;-biacridylidenes showed unexpected high scavenging activity towards DPPH or ABTS radicals which may be explained by higher stabilization of radical cations by the extended conjugation of heteroaromatic ring system