Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage building – comparative life cycle assessment using a case study

Materials production dominates the total Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the construction industry. On the other hand, most existing building stocks are expected to last for the next 30 years, which can contribute to increasing resource efficiency, reducing environmental impact, and creating social, cultural, and economic values for society. Therefore, it becomes vital to investigate the environmental impacts of adaptive reuse of existing buildings using a life cycle approach. The objective of this study is to explore the environmental performance of adaptive reuse of an industrial heritage building compared to new construction using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The environmental impacts of the selected case study are evaluated using four scenarios, with two adaptive reuse scenarios, a warehouse or an office building and two new construction scenarios, a new warehouse or a new office building. One-Click LCA is used as an LCA tool, and the scenarios are compared by total carbon footprint, life cycle models, GHG emissions per building elements and material types. The results show that among the four scenarios, the adaptive to warehouse scenario is the best adaptation option with considerably lower environmental impact, followed by the adaptive office scenario. This paper highlights that adaptation of existing industrial heritage buildings, with the least materials replacement option, is worthwhile. The further evaluation needed for the study's limitation is also highlighted for data efficiency and potential for further research.publishedVersio

Left ventricular T1-mapping in diastole versus systole in patients with mitral regurgitation

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance T1-mapping enables myocardial tissue characterisation, and is capable of quantifying both intracellular and extracellular volume. T1-mapping is conventionally performed in diastole, however, we hypothesised that systolic readout would reduce variability due to a reduction in myocardial blood volume. This study investigated whether T1-mapping in systole alters T1 values compared to diastole and whether reproducibility alters in atrial fibrillation compared to sinus rhythm. We prospectively identified 103 consecutive patients recruited to the Mitral FINDER study who had T1 mapping in systole and diastole. These patients had moderate or severe mitral regurgitation and a high incidence of ventricular dilatation and atrial fibrillation. T1, ECV and goodness-of-fit (R2) values of the T1 times were calculated offline using Circle cvi42 and in house-developed software. Systolic T1 mapping was associated with fewer myocardial segments being affected by artefact compared to diastolic T1 mapping [217/2472 (9%) vs 515/2472 (21%)]. Mean native T1 values were not significantly different when measured in systole and diastole (985 ± 26 ms vs 988 ± 29 respectively; p = 0.061) and mean post-contrast values showed similar good agreement (462 ± 32 ms vs 459 ± 33 respectively, p = 0.052). No clinically significant differences in ECV, native T1 and post-contrast T1 were identified between diastolic and systolic T1 maps in males versus females, or in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation versus sinus rhythm. A statistically significant improvement in R2 value was observed with systolic over diastolic T1 mapping in all analysed maps (n = 411) (96.2 ± 1.4% vs 96.0 ± 1.4%; p &lt; 0.001) and in subgroup analyses [Sinus rhythm: 96.1 ± 1.4 vs 96.3 ± 1.4 (n = 327); p &lt; 0.001. AF: 95.5 ± 1.3 vs 95.9 ± 1.2 (n = 80); p &lt; 0.001] [Males: 95.8 ± 1.4 vs 96.1 ± 1.3 (n = 264); p &lt; 0.001; Females: 96.2 ± 1.3 vs 96.4 ± 1.4 (n = 143); p = 0.009]. In conclusion, myocardial T1 mapping is associated with similar T1 and ECV values in systole and diastole. Furthermore, systolic acquisition is less prone to gating artefact in arrhythmia.</p

A Study of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the Environment of Farms in Thanlyin and Hmawbi Townships, Myanmar.

Melioidosis is a tropical infection, first described in Myanmar but now rarely diagnosed there, which is widespread in Southeast Asia. The infection is predominantly acquired by people and animals through contact with soil or water. This study aimed to detect the causative organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei, in environmental samples from farms in Thanlyin and Hmawbi townships near Yangon, Myanmar. One hundred and twenty soil samples and 12 water samples were collected and processed using standard microbiological methods. Burkholderia species were isolated from 50 of the 120 (42%) soil samples but none of the water samples. Arabinose assimilation was tested to differentiate between B. pseudomallei and the nonpathogenic Burkholderia thailandensis, and seven of 50 isolates (14%) were negative. These were all confirmed as B. pseudomallei by a species-specific multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This is the first study to detect environmental B. pseudomallei in Myanmar and confirms that melioidosis is still endemic in the Yangon area

Anti-malarial landscape in Myanmar: results from a nationally representative survey among community health workers and the private sector outlets in 2015/2016

Abstract Background In 2015/2016, an ACTwatch outlet survey was implemented to assess the anti-malarial and malaria testing landscape in Myanmar across four domains (Eastern, Central, Coastal, Western regions). Indicators provide an important benchmark to guide Myanmar’s new National Strategic Plan to eliminate malaria by 2030. Methods This was a cross-sectional survey, which employed stratified cluster-random sampling across four regions in Myanmar. A census of community health workers (CHWs) and private outlets with potential to distribute malaria testing and/or treatment was conducted. An audit was completed for all anti-malarials, malaria rapid diagnostic tests. Results A total of 28,664 outlets were approached and 4416 met the screening criteria. The anti-malarial market composition comprised CHWs (41.5%), general retailers (27.9%), itinerant drug vendors (11.8%), pharmacies (10.9%), and private for-profit facilities (7.9%). Availability of different anti-malarials and diagnostic testing among anti-malarial-stocking CHWs was as follows: artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) (81.3%), chloroquine (67.0%), confirmatory malaria test (77.7%). Less than half of the anti-malarial-stocking private sector had first-line treatment in stock: ACT (41.7%) chloroquine (41.8%), and malaria diagnostic testing was rare (15.4%). Oral artemisinin monotherapy (AMT) was available in 27.7% of private sector outlets (Western, 54.1%; Central, 31.4%; Eastern; 25.0%, Coastal; 15.4%). The private-sector anti-malarial market share comprised ACT (44.0%), chloroquine (26.6%), and oral AMT (19.6%). Among CHW the market share was ACT (71.6%), chloroquine (22.3%); oral AMT (3.8%). More than half of CHWs could correctly state the national first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum and vivax malaria (59.2 and 56.9%, respectively) compared to the private sector (15.8 and 13.2%, respectively). Indicators on support and engagement were as follows for CHWs: reportedly received training on malaria diagnosis (60.7%) or national malaria treatment guidelines (59.6%), received a supervisory or regulatory visit within 12 months (39.1%), kept records on number of patients tested or treated for malaria (77.3%). These indicators were less than 20% across the private sector. Conclusion CHWs have a strong foundation for achieving malaria goals and their scale-up is merited, however gaps in malaria commodities and supplies must be addressed. Intensified private sector strategies are urgently needed and must be scaled up to improve access and coverage of first-line treatments and malaria diagnosis, and remove oral AMT from the market place. Future policies and interventions on malaria control and elimination in Myanmar should take these findings into consideration across all phases of implementation

Presence of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the 'Granary of Myanmar'.

Melioidosis is a frequently fatal infectious disease caused by the Gram negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei. Although it was originally discovered in Myanmar, the disease disappeared from sight for many decades. This study focuses on detection of B. pseudomallei in soil in selected sampling sites in an attempt to start to fill the gaps in the current status of our knowledge of the geographical distribution of B. pseudomallei in soil in Myanmar. This cross-sectional study consists of 400 soil samples from 10 selected study townships from two major paddy growing regions. Bacterial isolation was done using a simplified method for the isolation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from soil. In this study, only 1% (4/400) of soil samples were found to be positive; two of four were found at 90 cm depth and another two positive samples were found at 30 cm and 60 cm. This survey has confirmed the presence of environmental B. pseudomallei in Myanmar indicating that the conditions are in place for melioidosis acquisition

Pollen Morphology of Genera Andrographis and Hemigraphis

The taxonomic description and pollen morphology of five species belonging to two genera of family Acanthaceae have been collected and identified. The specimens were collected from different regions of Mandalay Region. Pollen morphology of all the collected species have been described with their aperture type, number, position, shape, size and sculpture pattern of exine. The aperture type of pollen grains are tricolporate. The exine sculpture of five species are distinctly and obscurely reticulate. The size of the grains are medium or large. The pollen key to the species has been constructed on the basic of palynological data

Pollen Morphology of Genus Thunbergia

A Study on the pollen morphology of 6 species of Thunbergia from the family Acanthaceae has been undertaken. The aperture type and sculpturing pattern of each pollen grain have been examined by light microscope. The pollen grain of spheroidal shape, faintly reticulate exine ornamentation and spiraperatureate aperture type are found in this genus. The pollen morphology, an artificial key and colour photographs of each species are presented

Investigate the environmental impacts of adaptive reuse industrial heritage building and compare with other scenarios: Demolition and New construction

Nowadays, the environmental impact assessment is improved for new construction buildings. The European Commission targeted to achieve the 55% of carbon reduction in 2030 and 60% in 2050 compared to the 1990 carbon emission level. In the building and construction industry, constructing new buildings and manufacturing construction materials dominate the industries' total carbon emissions. There is also a large amount of building stock that is getting old, and most of the buildings have significant values in culture and society. Some of them are titled heritage buildings and must be preserved. Furthermore, the heritage buildings are critical to preserve and rehabilitate due to there are a significant amount of heritage building and culturally valuable buildings which were built within the industrial revolution time. Most of the non-residential buildings are not possible to use the original purpose. Then, the rehabilitation of the building must be carried out. However, since the heritage buildings have a high value in culture and society, the professional bodies are considering carefully. On the other hand, the environmental consideration for the heritage building is also critical. The heritage building always has had a long service life; precisely, the service life is longer than expected. Therefore, the environmental impacts of the building use must be studied. Life cycle stages and the building's lifespan are the influencing factors for the building's environmental impacts. The life cycle analysis method is used for the new construction, but environmental impacts assessment of the heritage building has not been established yet. The author believed that the environmental assessment for the heritage building could be carried out by modifying the life cycle assessment. This research aims for a broader insight study in environmental assessment and circular economy. The outcomes of the study enhanced the knowledge of environmental assessment for heritage buildings. The objective is to investigate the rehabilitation of an industrial heritage building (PM5) in Skien, Norway, comparing it with other scenarios. Life cycle assessment analysis was used as a based method for this heritage infrastructure and modified according to the scenarios' system boundary. The adaptive reuse scenario without considering the energy performance was the most favorable scenario among all the scenarios. Moreover, the aspects to determine the environmental assessment of heritage buildings were studied. One-Click LCA is used as an assessment tool to evaluate the environmental impacts. Heritage building's components and materials have heritage value and socio-cultural values same as the whole heritage building. Therefore, each component of the building also must be preserved. This study found that the most suitable way to rehabilitate a heritage building is to reuse it as a non-heated public building. Moreover, the recommendation of reusing the replaced components and further studies are presented

Seismic Performance Evaluation of Existing Reinforced Concrete Buildings in Yangon

Yangon is the most populated commercial city in Myanmar. It is located just about 50km from Sagging Fault, the major earthquake fault of Myanmar, at which the ground excitation is more frequent this year. Moreover, most of the existing buildings in Yangon are old and less performance to seismic shaking. According to census data record, R.C type residential buildings are the most popular types in Yangon. Thus, in order to mitigate the risk of lives and properties under upcoming earthquake, the disaster mitigation plan becomes the major issue to get awareness of the public. For this purpose, this study is aimed to analyze the three existing R.C buildings under different levels earthquakes in three townships (Tarmway, Pazundaung and Kyaukdadar) in which the population density is higher and the soil condition is worse than other townships. The selected buildings have three heights (3; 6; and 8-stories). The material properties of these existing buildings are obtained by certain tests on sites. The soil condition of theexisting townships is determined based on the bore logs test data of soil investigation reports. The performance of the buildings is then assessed with the ATC 40 and FEMA 356 building acceptance criteria. From pushover analysis, the capacity curves for each building in two directions of the earthquake are obtained. The modeling and analysis is done by ETABS 9 software. According to fragility analysis, this study results that these existing R.C type buildings can suffer moderate damage under moderate level and severe damage under severe level earthquake