Vitamin D receptor gene BsmI polymorphisms in Thai patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

The immunomodulatory role of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 is well known. An association between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene BsmI polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been reported. To examine the characteristics of VDR gene BsmI polymorphisms in patients with SLE and the relationship of polymorphisms to the susceptibility and clinical manifestations of SLE, VDR genotypings of 101 Thai patients with SLE and 194 healthy controls were performed based on polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The relationship between VDR gene BsmI polymorphisms and clinical manifestations of SLE was evaluated. The distribution of VDR genotyping in patients with SLE was 1.9% for BB (non-excisable allele homozygote), 21.78% for Bb (heterozygote), and 76.23% for bb (excisable allele homozygote). The distribution of VDR genotyping in the control group was 1.03% for BB, 15.98% for Bb, and 82.99% for bb. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.357). The allelic distribution of B and b was similar within the groups (p = 0.173). The relationship between VDR genotype and clinical manifestation or laboratory profiles of SLE also cannot be statistically demonstrated. In conclusion, we cannot verify any association between VDR gene BsmI polymorphism and SLE. A larger study examining other VDR gene polymorphisms is proposed

Plan implementation and medium density housing outcomes: measuring the effect of Wellington City District Plan Change 56

The Wellington City District Plan, operative since the year 2000, set goals for housing intensification. Residential development is encouraged within the existing footprint of the urban area of Wellington City. Intensification means housing development must incorporate a greater mix of housing typologies denser than the currently predominant low density single detached dwellings. To deliver intensification, planning in Wellington aims to incorporate medium density housing typologies that result in more dwellings while using less land. In 2007 Plan Change 56: Managing the Quality of Infill Housing was introduced. The plan change responded to concerns about the quality of housing outcomes being delivered by intensification. The implementation framework was amended through changing and adding a number of policies and rules and the Multiunit Developments Design Guide was replaced with the Residential Design Guide. The Plan Change kept policies for intensification, while policies controlling quality of medium density housing were amended. This research measured the effect of Plan Change 56 on the quality of medium density housing outcomes. Success in planning was found to be defined by the way plan implementation contributes to built outcomes meeting a plan’s goals and objectives. To measure outcomes, a method of assessing case studies was applied based on a range of prior New Zealand research. The Ministry for the Environment’s Medium-density Housing Case Study Assessment Methodology was used to assess and compare Wellington case studies of medium density housing from the periods before and after Plan Change 56. The selected case studies give evidence that Plan Change 56 did not cause an improvement in the quality of medium density housing outcomes. The key finding is that the treatment of open space is significant in defining the quality of medium density housing outcomes. Plan Change 56 made a number of amendments to the District Plan in terms of the way open space is treated around dwellings. Despite this, it was the most significant reason for post-Plan change case studies achieving low quality outcomes. Detailed comparison showed that changes to the District Plan rules for open space did not cause the quality of outcomes to improve. The application of the Residential Design Guide was compared to the superseded Multi Unit Developments Design Guide. The most significant amendments by Plan Change 56 related to guidelines for the design of building along street frontages in terms of volumes, orientation, and façade treatments. The case study results showed there was little difference in the way each design guide was used to assess Resource Consent applications. The results conclusively show that Plan Change 56 did not cause an improvement in the quality of medium density housing outcomes in Wellington

An exergoeconomic-based parametric study to examine the effects of active and passive energy retrofit strategies for buildings

The paper describes a systematic framework that uses exergoeconomic theory integrated into ‘building energy retrofit’ (BER) design. An exergoeconomic module, based on the SPECO method, has been embedded into ‘EXRETOpt’, a recently developed retrofit-oriented exergy simulation tool based on EnergyPlus. Both active and passive technologies were analysed using two calibrated archetype non-domestic buildings as case studies (an office and a primary school). A novel cost-benefit indicator which accounts for building exergy destruction cost, retrofit annual capital cost, and project annual revenue is presented. This indicator is employed to account for best exergoeconomic performance technologies and to further develop deep BER packages. Compared to typical practice, exergoeconomics combined with cost-benefit provides a powerful tool for exploration and design improvement of building energy systems. In both cases, final product cost for heating and cooling processes were substantially reduced. In addition, the office case presented improvements in energy use by 67%, CO2 emissions by 53%, thermal comfort by 22%, exergy destructions by 42%, and the overall building exergy efficiency was improved from 14.8% to 20.0%. The school case presented similar results with an improvement of building exergy efficiency from 8.2% to 11.1%, and the potential to generate income due to current government incentives

An exergy-based multi-objective optimisation model for energy retrofit strategies in non-domestic buildings

While the building sector has a significant thermodynamic improvement potential, exergy analysis has been shown to provide new insight for the optimisation of building energy systems. This paper presents an exergy-based multi-objective optimisation tool that aims to assess the impact of a diverse range of retrofit measures with a focus on non-domestic buildings. EnergyPlus was used as a dynamic calculation engine for first law analysis, while a Python add-on was developed to link dynamic exergy analysis and a Genetic Algorithm optimisation process with the aforementioned software. Two UK archetype case studies (an office and a primary school) were used to test the feasibility of the proposed framework. Different measures combinations based on retrofitting the envelope insulation levels and the application of different HVAC configurations were assessed. The objective functions in this study are annual energy use, occupants' thermal comfort, and total building exergy destructions. A large range of optimal solutions was achieved highlighting the framework capabilities. The model achieved improvements of 53% in annual energy use, 51% of exergy destructions and 66% of thermal comfort for the school building, and 50%, 33%, and 80% for the office building. This approach can be extended by using exergoeconomic optimisation

Exergy efficient building design

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