AUTOMATED IFC-BASED PROCESSES IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR: A METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE INFORMATION FLOW

One of the main challenges in the implementation of BIM-based processes concerns interoperability issues. In fact, even if IFC format is recognised as an ISO standard, different barriers and problems are often encountered in IFC adoption. Generally, obstacles are due to the difficulty of users in personalising import and export options of IFC formats in BIM authoring tools with the consequent possibility of information loss. The paper presents a method for improving the information flow, based on the connection of information stored in IFC files and in external databases through automated processes. Therefore, information concerning one single project can be stored in BIModels and linked to external sources or, conversely, referred from external databases to objects in BIModels. Benefits deriving from the adoption of the proposed solutions concern the limited size of BIModels, the possibility to store information not considered in the IFC schema, and the reduction of IT skills required to building operators for exchanging information in an interoperable way

Positive Affect Over Time and Emotion Regulation Strategies: Exploring Trajectories With Latent Growth Mixture Model Analysis

The influence of Positive Affect (PA) on people\u2019s well-being and happiness and the related positive consequences on everyday life have been extensively described by positive psychology in the past decades. This study shows an application of Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM) to explore the existence of different trajectories of variation of PA over time, corresponding to different groups of people, and to observe the effect of emotion regulation strategies on these trajectories. We involved 108 undergraduates in a 1-week daily on-line survey, assessing their PA. We also measured their emotion regulation strategies before the survey. We identified three trajectories of PA over time: a constantly high PA profile, an increasing PA profile, and a decreasing PA profile. Considering emotion regulation strategies as covariates, reappraisal showed an effect on trajectories and class membership, whereas suppression regulation strategy did not

ICT intelligent support solutions toward the reduction of heating demand in cold and mild European climate conditions

Adopting intelligent solutions in residential buildings for reducing the HVAC energy demand, especially during the operational stages, is becoming more popular. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices are often the backbone of such intelligent solutions, since they can enable an easy and intuitive bidirectional communication between energy systems and users and, at the same time, are able to suggest energy saving procedures. These energy saving procedures are mainly suggested when energy hungry behaviors are registered. Particularly, authors of this paper have assumed setting indoor set point temperatures, adjusting ventilation airflow rates and opening windows as energy hungry behaviors to tackle by means of ICT-driven intelligent solutions. Two different localities, namely Helsinki and Milan, have been considered as representative of cold and mild European climate conditions. Results report that adopting ICT-driven intelligent solutions for setting heating setback and indoor set point temperatures and for controlling the mechanical ventilation according to actual people's presence and CO2 levels ensures consistent reductions of energy demand, especially in Helsinki, where mechanical ventilation is adopted. Moreover, if mechanical ventilation does not work properly or is missing, benefits in reducing energy demand can be even achieved by adopting ICT-driven intelligent solutions for advising building users when windows should be opened or closed according to sensed CO2 levels. This is relevant especially in Milan. The adoption of intelligent HVAC–window controls, which enable to turn off the HVAC when windows are opened, does not ensure a significant effect in Helsinki. Instead, this solution is promising in Milan, especially when heating systems with low thermal masses are installed

Artistas en formación: Reflexión y reconocimiento del Discurso del cuerpo

Esta investigación es un acercamiento a la reflexión y reconocimiento de la construcción del Discurso del cuerpo a lo largo de la formación profesional en danza contemporánea, de la Facultad de Artes Escénicas de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Esto se lleva a cabo a partir de la creación de un laboratorio de investigación en artes con un grupo de seis estudiantes de la Especialidad de Danza de diversos ciclos y entrevistas realizadas a un grupo de cinco docentes de la misma Especialidad. El laboratorio trabaja desde la investigación individual y grupal, a partir de la mirada sobre la experiencia de cada participante a lo largo de su transformación en la danza con relación al Cuerpo. Desde diversas temáticas y ejercicios se crea un camino hacia el cuestionamiento, la reflexión y el reconocimiento.This research is an approach to the reflection and recognition of the construction of the body discourse, throughout the professional training in contemporary dance of the Faculty of Performing Arts of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). This is carried out from the creation of an arts research laboratory with a group of six students from the Dance Specialty of various cycles and interviews with a group of five teachers of the same Specialty. The laboratory works from individual and group research, from the perspective of the experience of each participant throughout their transformation in dance in relation to the BodyTesi

Utilization of Water Resources and Sustainable Crop Production

BIM is representing a shift in the traditional process of building delivery. Its adoption in US reached 71% in 2012 rising from 17% in 2007; moreover, Europe is going to adopt BIM for public contracting as promoted by the European Union Public Procurement Directive. Meanwhile, BIM is widely diffused in UK and Northern Europe, as it includes a more accurate documentation, less rework and shorter project timelines. The use of BIM to provide data for energy performance evaluation and sustainability assessment is defined Green BIM and pioneering design organizations are adopting this approach to enable integrated design, construction and maintenance towards Net Zero Energy buildings. Green BIM includes Building Energy Modelling dealing with project energy performance to identify options optimising building energy efficiency during the life cycle. By allowing revisions during the design phase, project teams can ensure that customers' green ambitions beyond regulation compliance can be realized, together with technical and economic requirements. Thus, BIM can provide information to support the calculation of a number of credit points to define goal levels of sustainability related to rating systems. The aim of the paper is to investigate the opportunity to include the "green dimension" in BIM considering the more diffused rating systems.</p

ANDIL experience for building process optimization through an efficient data management / L’esperienza di ANDIL per l’ottimizzazione del processo edilizio attraverso una gestione efficiente delle informazioni

A building process optimization needs a systemic approach in order to correctly manage its complexity. Despite many important contributions have been provided in the last few years, both from a procedural point of view and from a normative one, building process management is often fragmented. This may cause repercussions on building quality and inefficiency in cost and time management. That is why, the research project INNOVance has developed an unambiguous classification system for every object and informative attribute for construction, creating a unique database to smartly store and share information. This through a proper definition of the content of data sheets which can be collected and easily shared together with their complementary attributes by different stakeholders. Unambiguous language and standardized information, in and of themselves, increase building process efficiency. If we then consider that data exchange is possible through the exploitation of a user friendly web portal and some interoperable web services, efficiency and economic savings in the entire construction chain could be extremely relevant. The present paper describes the results achieved during the last year of the research project, in terms of information standardization and data collection

Tracking users' behaviors through real-time information in BIMs: Workflow for interconnection in the Brescia Smart Campus Demonstrator

An intelligent building supports the needs of its occupants by data analytics. Nowadays, buildings are evolving from being products to become effective service providers for end-users: thus, occupancy topics become crucial. The paper focuses on building operations, pointing out how advantages in supporting the needs of users could be derived through the implementation of Building Management Systems (BMS) into a Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment, connecting real-time information collected by sensors to a BIM database. The connection and the integration of information between BIM and BMS have been established based on the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) neutral data format; moreover, web-interfaces and apps have been tested for enhancing information to be visualized by different end-users. The ongoing research has a twofold scope: 1) to point-out how buildings should evolve, managing knowledge coming from sensors in order to anticipate the needs of users, and 2) to analyze whether and how the centrality of users should change the building process. The proposed workflow has been tested on the Brescia Smart Campus Demonstrator, a building equipped with 94 off-the-shelf sensors

Searching novel therapeutic targets for scleroderma: P2X7-receptor is UP-regulated and promotes a fibrogenic phenotype in systemic sclerosis fibroblasts

Objectives: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disorder presenting fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, for which no effective treatments are currently available. Increasing evidence indicates that the P2X7 receptor (P2X7R), a nucleotide-gated ionotropic channel primarily involved in the inflammatory response, may also have a key role in the development of tissue fibrosis in different body districts. This study was aimed at investigating P2X7R expression and function in promoting a fibrogenic phenotype in dermal fibroblasts from SSc patients, also analyzing putative underlying mechanistic pathways. Methods: Fibroblasts were isolated by skin biopsy from 9 SSc patients and 8 healthy controls. P2X7R expression, and function (cytosolic free Ca2+ fluxes, α-smooth muscle actin [α-SMA] expression, cell migration, and collagen release) were studied. Moreover, the role of cytokine (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) production, and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) activation in mediating P2X7R-dependent pro-fibrotic effects in SSc fibroblasts was evaluated. Results: P2X7R expression and Ca2+ permeability induced by the selective P2X7R agonist 2'-3'-O-(4-benzoylbenzoyl)ATP (BzATP) weremarkedly higher in SSc than control fibroblasts. Moreover, increased aSMA expression, cell migration, CTGF, and collagen release were observed in lipopolysaccharides-primed SSc fibroblasts after BzATP stimulation. While P2X7-induced cytokine changes did not affect collagen production, it was completely abrogated by inhibition of the ERK pathway. Conclusion: In SSc fibroblasts, P2X7R is overexpressed and its stimulation induces Ca2+-signaling activation and a fibrogenic phenotype characterized by increased migration and collagen production. These data point to the P2X7R as a potential, novel therapeutic target for controlling exaggerated collagen deposition and tissue fibrosis in patients with SSc

Germline mutations in DNA repair genes predispose asbestos-exposed patients to malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare, aggressive cancer caused by asbestos exposure. An inherited predisposition has been suggested to explain multiple cases in the same family and the observation that not all individuals highly exposed to asbestos develop the tumor. Germline mutations in BAP1 are responsible for a rare cancer predisposition syndrome that includes predisposition to mesothelioma. We hypothesized that other genes involved in hereditary cancer syndromes could be responsible for the inherited mesothelioma predisposition. We investigated the prevalence of germline variants in 94 cancer-predisposing genes in 93 MPM patients with a quantified asbestos exposure. Ten pathogenic truncating variants (PTVs) were identified in PALB2, BRCA1, FANCI, ATM, SLX4, BRCA2, FANCC, FANCF, PMS1 and XPC. All these genes are involved in DNA repair pathways, mostly in homologous recombination repair. Patients carrying PTVs represented 9.7% of the panel and showed lower asbestos exposure than did all the other patients (p=0.0015). This suggests that they did not efficiently repair the DNA damage induced by asbestos and leading to carcinogenesis. This study shows that germline variants in several genes may increase MPM susceptibility in the presence of asbestos exposure and may be important for specific treatment