The architectural culture of the Eurasian Mediterranean region: a testimony of satisfactory design for urban infrastructures (May 2014)

The purpose of this paper is to expose the importance of observing cultural systems present in a territory as a reference for the design of urban infrastructures in the new cities and regions of rapid development. If we accept the idea that architecture is an instrument or cultural system developed by man to act as an intermediary to the environment, it is necessary to understand the elemental interaction between man and his environment to meet a satisfactory design.To illustrate this purpose, we present the case of the Eurasian Mediterranean region, where the architectural culture acts as a cultural system of adaptation to the environment and it is formed by an ancient process of selection. From simple observation of architectural types, construction systems and environmental mechanisms treasured in mediterranean historical heritage we can extract crucial information about this elemental interaction.Mediterranean architectural culture has environmental mechanisms responding to the needs of basics habitability, ethnics and passive conditioning. These mechanisms can be basis of an innovative design without compromising the diversity and lifestyles of human groups in the region. The main fundament of our investigation is the determination of the historical heritage of domestic architecture as holder of the formation process of these mechanisms.The result allows us to affirm that the successful introduction of new urban infrastructures in an area need a reliable reference and it must be a cultural system that entailing in essence the environmental conditioning of human existence. The urban infrastructures must be sustainable, understood and accepted by the inhabitants. The last condition is more important when the urban infrastructures are implemented in areas that are developing rapidly or when there is no architectural culture

Methodology proposal for the life cycle sustainability assessment applied to retrofitting in a local context

In the European context of upgrading the housing stock energy performance, multiple barriers hinder the wide uptake of sustainable retrofitting practices. Moreover, some of these may imply negative effects often disregarded. Policy makers need to identify how to increase and improve retrofitting practices from the comprehensive point of view of sustainability. None of the existing assessment tools addresses all the issues relevant for sustainable development in a local situation from a life cycle perspective. Life cycle sustainability assessment methodology, or LCSA, analyzes environmental and socioeconomic impacts. The environmental part is quite developed, but the socioeconomic aspect is still challenging. This work proposes socioeconomic criteria to be included in a LCSA to assess retrofitting works in the specific context of Brussels-Capital Region. LCSA feasibility and challenging methodology aspects are discussed

Empati Dan Perilaku Merokok Di Tempat Umum

Do the emphaty determine the smoking behavior? And is the smoking behavior in the public areas, such as in the train station, in the cinema, in the cafetaria, in the car park, and on the bus affected by the low of empathy.? One hundred and fifty students, 15-22 years old participated in this study. They were asked to fill the Emphaty Scales (SE) and Smoking Behavior Scales (SPM) in when they were smoking in the public area. The Product Moment analysis showed that there is a negative correlation (-0,207) between the two. The higher the emphatetic the lower the smoking behavior, especially in the public areas. This research also found out that the frequency of smoking is related to the empathy. Therefore, people who smoke in the public areas should be the hard smokers. Keywords: Emphaty, Smoking Behavior, Public Area

Pola Pemberdayaan Ekonomi Generasi Milenial (Studi Kasus Komunitas Serikat Saudagar Nusantara (SSN) Di Medan)

Millennials or often called Generation Y is a term used to refer to generations born in the 1980s to 2000. This generation is familiar with communication, media, and digital technology. Not surprisingly, this generation is taking advantage of technological advances as an opportunity to do business. This phenomenon was exploited by Rendy Saputra to establish the Community of Saudagar Nusantara (SSN) Society. The activities carried out by the SSN community are interesting to study because in a short time (established 2 June 2017) this community was able to mobilize various communities in 40 cities in Indonesia as partners in empowering MSMEs. This study aims to determine the pattern of economic empowerment carried out by Medan SSN and SWOT analysis of the empowerment carried out. This research is descriptive qualitative with indepth interview as an instrument for collecting data. The results showed that the pattern of empowerment carried out by Medan SSN was Mentoring Bisnis Pekanan (MBP) Program, Kopdar Saudagar Nusantara, SSN and visiting business of member and non-member SSN, and Group WhatsApp for communication, business promotion, and sharing knowledge through online lectures. Based on the value of Internal Strategy Factors (IFAS) and External Strategy Factors (EFAS), SSN Medan is known that the pattern of empowerment carried out by Medan SSN is in the first quadrant, which supports progressive strategies

La ventana modular aplicada en la rehabilitación

La ventana tradicional en España, a pesar de responder básicamente a unas premisas comunes, varía según la zona. Sin embargo, todas ellas tienen en común, funcionalmente, los siguientes aspectos: Iluminación natural. Ventilación natural. Contacto visual con el exterior. Hoy en día las ventanas siguen siendo prácticamente iguales a las tradicionales, solo hay mejoras a través de la incorporación de materiales de protección térmica y acústica. En el proyecto INVISO (Industrialización de Viviendas Sostenibles) -subproyecto 10 (Sistemas para la optimización del comportamiento eficiente de las viviendas)- que se está desarrollando en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, en relación con los huecos de fachada, se ha diseñado el prototipo llamado VENTANA MODULAR, que integra estrategias tradicionales y mejora notablemente la iluminación y climatización del espacio interior. La ventana modular, es un prisma rectangular, una doble envolvente dinámica, que se modifica de acuerdo a las necesidades y que contiene los elementos necesarios para responder a los cambios estacionales, tanto diurnos como nocturnos. La ventana se caracteriza por lo siguiente: Permite al usuario controlar su propio ambiente interior. Favorece la iluminación natural y el contacto visual con el exterior. Permite la ventilación natural en todo momento. Protege las superficies acristaladas de la radiación solar directa y disminuye las demandas de energía en climatización. Protege el interior del espacio del exceso de ruido exterior. Mariano Vázquez Espí, refiriéndose a la rehabilitación, dice "...llegará el momento en el que solo haga falta rehabilitar o reutilizar, en el que la obra nueva sea una rareza, no la regla... de más de tres millones de viviendas construidas en España en la década de los ochenta, medio millón largo quedaron vacías, desocupadas, lo que representa la sexta parte de lo construido...”

Factores condicionan tes básicos asociados al autocuidado de la salud cardiovascular en personas con hipertensión arterial. Montería , 2010

Objetivo. Describir los factores condicionantes básicos asociados al autocuidado de la salud cardiovascular en personas con hipertensión arterial que asisten a un programa de control de una institución de salud de la ciudad de Montería. Materiales y métodos. Estudio de prevalencia analítico (Corte). La población estuvo conformada por 150 personas hipertensas. La información se recolectó conservando las consideraciones éticas y control de riesgos a través de la revisión de historias clínicas y el diligenciamiento de la ficha de caracterización sociodemográfica y desviación de la salud, diseñada por el grupo de investigación “Cuidado al adulto” del programa de enfermería de la Universidad de Córdoba. Se empleó el programa Excel versión 2007, para tabular y analizar los datos. Resultados. Los hallazgos del estudio demuestran la fuerte asociación existente entre los factores condicionantes basicos y los factores de riesgo presentes en la población de estudio. Se evidencia el riesgo cardiovascular a que están expuestos los adultos hipertensos, dada la alta proporción que registran tanto los factores de riesgo modificables como los no modificables. Conclusión. A la luz de la teoría Orem, los factores condicionantes básicos, como elementos periféricos, afectan el autocuidado de las personas en estudio de manera intrínseca o extrínseca, dada la condición de déficit de autocuidado. Los sistemas de enfermería y métodos de ayuda deben ser planeados acordes a las necesidades de ayuda que presenta esta población, según la edad, el nivel educativo y socioeconómico, para la eficacia de la agencia de enfermería

Modelling Long-Term Urban Temperatures with Less Training Data: A Comparative Study Using Neural Networks in the City of Madrid

In the last decades, urban climate researchers have highlighted the need for a reliable provision of meteorological data in the local urban context. Several efforts have been made in this direction using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), demonstrating that they are an accurate alternative to numerical approaches when modelling large time series. However, existing approaches are varied, and it is unclear how much data are needed to train them. This study explores whether the need for training data can be reduced without overly compromising model accuracy, and if model reliability can be increased by selecting the UHI intensity as the main model output instead of air temperature. These two approaches were compared using a common ANN configuration and under different data availability scenarios. Results show that reducing the training dataset from 12 to 9 or even 6 months would still produce reliable results, particularly if the UHI intensity is used. The latter proved to be more effective than the temperature approach under most training scenarios, with an average RMSE improvement of 16.4% when using only 3 months of data. These findings have important implications for urban climate research as they can potentially reduce the duration and cost of field measurement campaigns

A prototype from the Solar Decathlon Competition becomes an educational building in sustanaible architecture

In 2008, the City Council of Rivas-Vaciamadrid (Spain) decided to promote the construction of “Rivasecopolis”, a complex of sustainable buildings in which a new prototype of a zero-energy house would become the office of the Energy Agency. According to the initiative of the City Council, it was decided to recreate the dwelling prototype “Magic-box” which entered the 2005 Solar Decathlon Competition. The original project has been adapted to a new necessities programme, by adding the necessary spaces that allows it to work as an office. A team from university has designed and carried out the direction of the construction site. The new Solar House is conceived as a “testing building”. It is going to become the space for attending citizens in all questions about saving energy, energy efficiency and sustainable construction, having a permanent small exhibition space additional to the working places for the information purpose. At the same time, the building includes the use of experimental passive architecture systems and a monitoring and control system. Collected data will be sent to University to allow developing research work about the experimental strategies included in the building. This paper will describe and analyze the experience of transforming a prototype into a real durable building and the benefits for both university and citizens in learning about sustainability with the buildin