SOURCE - Sustainable Urban Cells: outcome of a bilateral survey Italy-Sweden

The survey SoURCE was jointly elaborated by the Inter-Departmental Center CITERA and the Royal Institute KTH; the findings were tested in different contexts, one of which was a municipality in the Lazio region with which it is currently collaborating to support planning interventions and facilitate European funding applications. The methodology that is interdisciplinary at the various scales was designed to enhance both horizontal and vertical subsidiarity and to allow to locate shares of the urban fabric – urban cells – providing for an energy balance between consumption and production from renewable sources in a predetermined range. Then by adding more urban cells the energy network was optimized and then integrated with other service networks that were then put in place into a system constituting the network of networks creating an efficient urban cell as per the service supply system. The model designed as such can be addressed to a specific territory to be consequently integrated with its specific characteristics (historical, cultural, social). This would then become an appropriate plan and/or requalification module to apply to urban settlements for the purpose of creating the basis for a smart city

Edilizia 4.0 La nuova domanda di formazione Industry 4.0 Building and the new training demand

Un confronto fra Scuole di Architettura richiede una preliminare analisi del contesto politico, economico e sociale al cui interno si collocano ordinamenti, didattica e progetti. Analisi necessaria per valutare adeguate sperimentazioni didattiche, come quella qui presentata nell’ambito delle discipline della Tecnologia dell’Architettura, particolarmente attente alla qualità progettuale, alla sintesi del passaggio dell’edilizia a ‘industria 4.0 e dei nuovi bisogni espressi dalla società. Le prime positive risultanze delineano possibili strade percorribili auspicabilmente con una maggiore e più adeguata disponibilità di risorse per l’Università.A comparison between Schools of Architecture requires a preliminary analysis of the political, economic and social contexts within which systems, education and projects are placed. Analysis is necessary to evaluate suitable educational experiments, such as the one presented here in the fields of Architectural Technology, particularly attentive to the quality of the project, to the essential understanding of the construction sector’s transition to ‘industry 4.0’ and the new needs expressed by society. The first positive results outline possible paths that could be hoped for with a greater and more adequate availability of resources to Universities

Modelli di sviluppo per i paesi andini.

The speech refers to the Andean States that are different from other emerging countries but at the same time are defined by sharing a common specific characteristics able to create a homogeneous platform for analysis and proposals. The main goal is to promote a decentralized development model that should include, besides specifically local economic aspects, the fall backs on employment, the improvement of the quality of life and the reduction of the environmental impacts. To this end, the paper shows – through case studies- the feasibility of the use of the “intermediate technologies” supported by appropriate forms of international cooperation

Environmental friendly transition of SMEs to Industry 4.0 through LCA. A case study of reinforced expanded polystyrene panels.

The actual context of the environmental concern is very important in the construction sector, which is called to make the transition to the Industry 4.0, trying to reduce the environmental impacts derived from its activities. To achieve this goal, the role of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which produce construction materials is very important. This study – a research between the PDTA Department of the Sapienza of Rome and a family business type enterprise – analyzes a technical and innovative solution for the production of reinforced panels of expandable polystyrene (EPS), through life cycle assessment to determine its environmental profile considering a cradle-to-gate approach. The analysis demonstrated that most of the impacts could be attributed to the raw material production stage rather than to the manufacturing stage. For example, in the case of global warming potential, 90% of the emissions of CO2 eq is attributed to the raw material production, and 10% represented the manufacturing stage. These results show the importance of empower the whole production chain with an environmental conscience and a responsibility to communicate their environmental data in an effective way to induce in the consumer environmental friendly actions in their daily decisions

Sostenibilità sociale, tecnologica e ambientale nell’architettura tradizionale persiana

L’architettura tradizionale persiana è stata in grado di amalgamare tutti quegli aspetti della sostenibilità che oggi appare così difficili da far coesistere: sostenibilità sociale, tecnologica, economica ed ambientale, trovano, nelle città e negli edifici dell’antico Iran, un equilibrio sorprendente. Gli autori del volume, provenienti da differenti sedi universitarie (Sapienza, Roma Tre e Firenze), si sono confrontati sui mutui rapporti fra le molteplici coniugazioni dell’antica sostenibilità persiana, gettando lo sguardo sulle complessità che l’architettura contemporanea iraniana si trova oggi a dover affrontare, alla costante ricerca di equilibrio tra una tradizione oramai troppo lontana e uno sviluppo eccessivamente rapido. Obiettivo del testo, che prende spunto da una tesi di laurea discussa presso il Dipartimento di Architettura dell’Università degli Studi Roma Tre, non è, quindi, quello di raccontare alcuni aspetti dell’architettura vernacolare persiana, ma di offrire, anche attraverso questi racconti, un punto di vista differente sulla tematica della sostenibilità. La stretta correlazione tra socialità, tecnologia e ambiente nella tradizione persiana, quindi, come spunto di riflessione per la ricerca di uno sviluppo sostenibile non solo nell’Iran contemporaneo, ma anche in Occidente dove alcune declinazioni della sostenibilità, come quella ambientale ed economica, spesso vengono ritenute prioritarie rispetto alle altre. L’esperienza persiana dimostra, al contrario, come la ricetta per uno sviluppo effettivamente sostenibile debba basarsi sempre più sulla simultaneità e sull’imprescindibilità di ognuna delle tematiche affrontate

A morphological and immunohistochemical study of human intestinal fibrogenesis during Crohn’s disease.

Background. Several enteropathies are characterized by an intestinal fibrosis that may lead to stenosis and obstruction (1). The most frequent and severe intestinal fibrosis occurs in Crohn’s disease (CD) that is related to the abnormal accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. In experimental model TGF-β1/Smad3 signalling plays a major role in tissue fibrogenesis as a potent stimulus of ECM accumulation (2). Aim. To evaluate the potential role of the TGF-β1/Smads pathway in the pathogenesis of intestinal fibrosis in patients affected by CD. Methods.Human samples from terminal ileum were processed for histological (H&E, Masson, Pas) morphometric and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses. For IHC studies TGF-β1, CTGF, collagen types I-III, Smad3, Smad7, PDGF, C-kit, α-SMA, GFAP and a neuronal cocktail (S100, antineurofilament, NSE) antibodies were used. Smooth muscle cells (SMC) were cultured (3) for morphofunctional and cell cycle analysis. Results. Histological and morphometrical evaluation of stenotic fragments revealed a significantly high degree of intestinal fibrosis with an increase in mucosa, submucosa and muscle layer thickness. Transmural inflammation was also present in stenotic lesions compared to normal tracts. SMC isolated from inflamed fragments presented a 18.7% ±5.9% lenght shortening and a 44.5%±2.9% inhibition in contractile response to acetylcholine. Furthermore, under inflammatory burst a shift from the G0/G1 to the S cell cycle phase was observed. IHC analysis showed an increase in TGF-β1,CTGF, collagen I-III, Smad3, PDGF, C-kit and α-SMA staining in stenotic lesions compared to pre-post stenotic intestinal tracts, whereas Smad7 was positive only in pre-post stenotic samples. IHC evaluation of GFAP and neuronal cocktail showed a reduction of immunoreactivity in stenotic lesions. Conclusions. The data demonstrate that the TGF-β1/Smads pathway may play a central role in the development and differentiation of mesenchymal cells and in sustaining fibrosis of intestinal tissues in CD. The results confirm those obtained previously in our experimental mice model. 1) Burke JP et al. Am J Gastro, 2007 2) Latella G. et al. Eur J Clin Invest, 2008 3) Tattoli I et al. Dig Liv Dis, 2004

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population.The aim of this study was to inform vaccination prioritization by modelling the impact of vaccination on elective inpatient surgery. The study found that patients aged at least 70 years needing elective surgery should be prioritized alongside other high-risk groups during early vaccination programmes. Once vaccines are rolled out to younger populations, prioritizing surgical patients is advantageous