Impact of a building shape factor on space cooling energy performance in the green roof concept implementation

The reduction of energy demand for space cooling requires adequate solutions at building and built environment scales in order to achieve sustainability goals. Since many existing buildings have inadequate envelopes for reducing heat gains in summer and heat losses in winter, environmentally friendly renovation techniques have to be considered. The roofs of existing buildings were identified as a field of intervention which could contribute to providing both energy savings and environmental benefits. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the contribution of green roofs to energy savings for space cooling depending on the building shape factor. Two groups of building models, with vertical and horizontal expansions, were analysed. The comparative analyses of the building models with conventional and green roofs showed small reduction of energy consumption less than 1% in case of well-insulated roofs with the addition of the extensive green roof. The comparison of different building models with green roofs of the same volume, which is in this case the same cooling area, indicated a more effective solution for green roofs implementation with the aim to improve energy performances of existing buildings using this passive design technique

Strain differences in the humoral immune response to commensal bacterial antigens in rats

We have investigated the immune response to commensal bacterial species in the two inbred rat strains: Dark Agouti (DA) and Albino Oxford (AO). The predominant Gram-negative aerobe in our rats' intestinal bacterial flora was Escherichia coli, while Proteus mirabilis was isolated only from DA rat strain. We report that sera from both DA and AO rat strains contain specific IgG against predominant intestinal flora. Intramuscular administration of commensal bacterial antigens provoked only Th1-type antibody response in AO rats while DA rats developed mixed Th1- and Th2-type antibody response to E. coli and Th1-type response to P. mirabilis antigens. Weaker antibody production to own E. coli and higher serum levels of natural IgG and IgA P. mirabilis-specific antibodies combined with higher CD3+ cells proliferation was found in AO rats. Strain difference in the pattern of antibody production and differential regulation of immune response to commensal bacteria may contribute to the marked differences in the immune reactivity of AO and DA rats