Indoor air quality and early detection of mould growth in residential buildings: a case study

Mould growth affects one in three homes, and it is the biggest cause for complaints and litigations filed to the relevant authorities in Australia, while also significantly affecting the physical and psychological health of the building’s occupants. Indoor mould is caused by excessive dampness, resulting from poor architectural specification, construction and maintenance practices, as well as inappropriate behaviour of the occupants. The consequences range from early biodeterioration of building materials, requiring anticipated renovation works, to deterioration of the indoor environment, posing a serious threat to the building’s occupants. This study investigates indoor air quality (IAQ) and mould growth, providing a snapshot of the current IAQ of Australian residential buildings regarding air pollutants. It uses a case study representative of the typical Australian suburban home to investigate the effects of unnoticed mould growth. The results of the monitoring campaign indicate that buildings with a high concentration of fungal spores are also more likely to present poor IAQ levels, high concentrations of particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2). This research suggests the need for the development of early detection strategies that could minimise the health hazard to people, thereby preventing the need for any major renovations

The potential of harnessing real-time occupancy data for improving energy performance of activity-based workplaces

Currently, the available studies on the prediction of building energy performance and real occupancy data are typically characterized by aggregated and averaged occupancy patterns or large thermal zones of reference. Despite the increasing diffusion of smart energy management systems and the growing availability of longitudinal data regarding occupancy, these two domains rarely inform each other. This research aims at understanding the potential of employing real-time occupancy data to identify better cooling strategies for activity-based-working (ABW)-supportive offices and reduce the overall energy consumption. It presents a case study comparing the energy performance of the office when different resolutions of occupancy and thermal zoning are applied, ranging from the standard energy certification approach to real-time occupancy patterns. For the first time, one year of real-time occupancy data at the desk resolution, captured through computer logs and Bluetooth devices, is used to investigate this issue. Results show that the actual cooling demand is 9% lower than predicted, unveiling the energy-saving potential to be achieved from HVAC systems for non-assigned seating environments. This research demonstrates that harnessing real-time occupancy data for demand-supply cooling management at a fine-grid resolution is an efficient strategy to reduce cooling consumption and increase workers’ comfort. It also emphasizes the need for more data and monitoring campaigns for the definition of more accurate and robust energy management strategies

Development of an urban health and wellbeing index for work precincts: A comparative study in Sydney, Australia

Work precincts are recognized for their significant role as generators of employment and associated commerce within urban areas. This study describes a method for analyzing the physical characteristics of urban work precincts in promoting the health and wellbeing of their occupants. The following physical parameters are analyzed: public transport accessibility, green and blue spaces, food environments, fitness facilities, supermarkets, and grocery stores. The parameters are assessed using quantitative spatial analysis based on street network data, as well as point of interest data acquired from OpenStreetMap (OSM). The streets and their intersections are stored in the OSM database as links and nodes, respectively. The evaluation of the performance metrics involves measuring the street network distance from each node to the closest node of interest for each parameter. The metrics are then combined, forming an urban health and wellbeing index (UHWI), which can be used to compare the performance of different precincts. The method was tested by investigating four work precincts in Sydney, Australia, all hosting a large office building belonging to the same business institution. Our results identified two of the four precincts with a high UHWI and resulted in the identification of one underperforming precinct

Control of storage rots of Washington navel oranges and minneola by a combination of yeast antagonist and thiabendazole

[No abstract available

Overlaps in space utilisation patterns and IEQ conditions observed in Activity-Based Working supportive office

One of the potential positive aspects of spaces designed to support Activity-Based Working (ABW) concept is to allow people to choose to work from zones that suit their Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) preferences. The vast majority of studies reporting findings relevant to IEQ performance of ABW spaces rely on spot measurements and/or subjective surveys and as such it is difficult to map longitudinal actual utilisation patterns and IEQ performance. This study contributes to this topic by analyzing a longitudinal dataset of space utilisation of an ABW over a twelve-month period. Analysis aims to identify overlaps between space utilisation patterns and expected IEQ performance in order to understand which types of zones occupants seem to prefer to work from. Occupants’ demographics (age and gender) were also analyzed with respect to the use of space. Further, specific physical markers were investigated, namely proximity to window, air-conditioning outlets, and high-low noise locations. The impact of physical markers on workplace choice was classified and predicted during a day using a decision-tree diagram developed on the basis of the CHAID algorithm. Overall, workers tended to choose to work within the inner zones (after 11 a.m.) during winter. Findings show that female workers moved away from air-conditioning outlets. Additionally, female workers worked from workstations situated in high and medium noise zones. Results illustrated the potential to use utilisation datasets to understand how workers move away or towards zones in response to expected IEQ performance - thermal comfort (cold/warm), acoustics (noisy/quiet), and access to the outdoor environment/view (window) proximity

Growth of Over-wintered and Pre-seasonally Produced Post-larvae of Penaeus semisulcatus in the Subtropics

WOS: 000282734600016Growth performance of Penaeus semisulcatus under semi-intensive and intensive systems in pond/tank culture conditions with pre-seasonally or over-wintered animals was studied in sub-tropical climate conditions of Turkey. In Pond A, the pre-seasonally produced post-larvae (PL) grew linearly from 0.2 g to 22.6 g in 140 days (Y = 0.19 X- 2.69; R-2= 0.97) with DGR (daily growth rate) of 0.06 g day(-1). In Pond B, the over-wintered juveniles grew from 3.8 g to 30.5 g with DGR of 0.41 g during the first 30 days (weight gain of 14.42 g) and 0.13 g between 30 and 140 days (weight gain of 14.32 g). Regression equation for growth was calculated to be Y = 9.62 Log (X) + 4.51 (R-2 = 0.99). Compensatory growth due to starvation or over-winter fasting has, for the first time, been demonstrated in this penaeid shrimp species in the present study. Food deprivation during the winter months resulted in growth compensation after re-feeding under appropriate culture conditions. During the compensatory growth period (first month after re-feeding), the shrimps gained an average weight of 2.87 g week(-1), but after this period, growth rate declined to 0.91 g week(-1) (over three-fold less) for the rest of the growth period (between 2(nd) and 5(th) months). This preliminary finding is a promising area on which studies should be focused on, as fasting and re-feeding strategy at low temperature can provide a chance to increase marketable size of shrimps or to even produce two crops per,year in the sub-tropics. The shrimps (0.2 g) reached to 13.7 g at 30 PL per m(2) (DGR 0.10 g), 6.44-7.37 g (DGR 0.05 g) at 40-50 PL per m(2) in 140 days. The estimated yields were 880-1,150 kg ha(-1) in semi-intensive ponds and 1,597-2,673 kg ha(-1) in intensive ponds. The shrimps grown in concrete Tanks displayed even poorer growth performance resulting in only 879 kg and 793 kg ha(-1) of yield.Research Fund of the University of CukurovaCukurova University [SUF2002 BAP24]This study was financed by the Research Fund of the University of Cukurova (SUF2002 BAP24)

The evaluation of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor gene polymorphism in glioblastoma patients

PubMedID: 30984996AIM: To assess the distribution of genetic polymorphisms of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) to predict the clinical course of glioblastoma, report on the genetic mechanisms, and provide guidance on potential therapeutic methods. MATERIAL and METHODS: Our study included 31 adult patients who were admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery at our institution and diagnosed with glioblastoma between October 2013 and January 2014 together with 50 control subjects. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 53.5 vs. 53.9 years, respectively, and the gender distribution (male/female: 64.5/35.5% vs. 64/36%, respectively) was comparable among patients and controls (p>0.05). Sixteen different KIR genes including inhibitory, activating, and pseudogenes were investigated for each sample, and the framework genes including KIR2DL4, 3DL2, 3DL3, and 3DP1 were present in all patients and controls. In addition, the inhibitory KIR genes and the 2DL3 gene were significantly more common in patients compared to controls (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the inhibitory KIR gene 2DL3 has a predisposition for glioblastoma. Identifying the potential link between glioblastoma cells and immune system genetics is critical in predicting familial predisposition and early diagnosis. In addition, this clue may be a key factor in developing post-surgery individual immunotherapy models in the future. © 2019 Turkish Neurosurgical Society.Preparation for publication of this article is partly supported by Turkish Neurosurgical Society

Occupants’ satisfaction and perceived productivity in open-plan offices designed to support activity-based working: findings from different industry sectors

Purpose: In the rise of offices designed to support activity-based working (ABW), parts of industry have fully transitioned to open-plan environments and then later to unassigned seating, whereas other parts, such as tertiary education, are still in the process of moving away from individual offices. There are a few relevant studies to understand how occupants from industry sectors with different levels of adoption of ABW perceived environments designed to support this way of working. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge gap by providing insight into workers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction from open-plan offices designed to support ABW along with the key predictors of perceived productivity. Design/methodology/approach: A data set of 2,090 post-occupancy evaluation surveys conducted in five sectors – tertiary education, finance, construction, property/asset management and design/engineering – was analyzed. ANOVA and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted for the survey questionnaires. First, ANOVA tests were conducted for the whole sample with perceived productivity as the dependent variable. A seven-point Likert scale with five theoretical factors was generated with all survey questionnaires. CFA was performed to show the factor loadings. In addition, regression analyses were carried out for each of factor item taken as the independent variable, where perceived productivity was the dependent variable. Key sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction per sector were analyzed and differences between occupants reporting a negative or positive impact on their productivity were also investigated. Finally, open-ended comments were analyzed to show the key sources of dissatisfaction based on open-ended comments. Findings: Workers from construction were the most satisfied, followed by finance and tertiary education. Occupants from all industry sectors consistently rated their workspaces highly on biophilic and interior design. Distraction and privacy received the lowest scores from all sectors. Open-ended comments showed mismatches between spatial and behavioral dimensions of ABW both for satisfaction and perceived productivity. Interior design was the strongest predictor for perceived productivity for all sectors. Findings dispel the notion that ABW implementation may not be suitable for certain industries, as long as the three key pillars of ABW are fully implemented, including design, behavior and technology. Originality/value: This paper provides insight into workers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction from open-plan offices designed to support ABW in different industry sectors along with the key predictors of perceived productivity

EFFECTS OF NALOXONE ON SODIUM-ACTIVATED AND POTASSIUM-ACTIVATED AND MAGNESIUM-DEPENDENT ADENOSINE-5'-TRIPHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY AND LIPID-PEROXIDATION AND EARLY ULTRASTRUCTURAL FINDINGS AFTER EXPERIMENTAL SPINAL-CORD INJURY

WOS: A1995QQ36900067PubMed ID: 7596512ENDORPHINS HAVE BEEN implicated in the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury. The effect of naloxone on the sodium- and potassium-activated and magnesium-dependent adenosine-5'-triphosphatase (Na+-K+/Mg+2 ATPase, EC.3.6.1.3.) activity, lipid peroxidation, and early ultrastructural findings were studied in rats at the early stage of spinal cord injury, produced with an aneurysm clip on the T2-T7 segments. The rats were divided into four groups, The 10 rats in Group I, which had no injury and received no medication, were used for determining Na+-K+/Mg+2 ATPase activity, the extent of lipid peroxidation (by measuring the level of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances as malondialdehyde), and normal ultrastructural findings. On the 15 rats in Group II, without spinal cord injury, only laminectomy was performed to determine the effect of surgery on the biochemical indices and findings. In the 15 rats in Group III, physiological saline was administered intraperitoneally in an amount equivalent to that of the naloxone administered immediately after spinal cord injury. In the 15 rats in Group IV, 0.5 mg of naloxone was administered intraperitoneally as a single dose immediately after injury and again 60 minutes after injury. The Na+-K+/Mg+2 ATPase activity was promptly reduced after spinal cord injury and remained in a lower level than the levels of Groups I and II during 120 minutes after injury. Naloxone treatment, immediately after trauma, attenuated the inactivation of Na+-K+/Mg+2 ATPase. On the other hand, there was a significant difference in the malondialdehyde content between animals in Groups I and III. Naloxone treatment reduced the malondialdehyde content in Group IV. These data suggest the possibility that naloxone contributes to protecting the spinal cord from injury by effecting lipid peroxidation and cell membrane stabilization. The possible effect mechanism of naloxone, which attenuates the inactivation of Na+-K+/Mg+2 ATPase and decreases lipid peroxidation, is discussed