Energy performance of a hybrid DSF-inspired solar heating façade for office buildings

Double-skin façade (DSF) is a passive design strategy that enhances building energy performance and improves indoor thermal comfort. In addition, DSF has been proposed as a hybrid façade that uses a cavity to preheat fresh air supplied to an air-handling unit (AHU) to reduce energy consumption for heating. However, to the authors' knowledge, there is no study about the design of DSF tailored for the hybrid system application yet. Therefore, this study focuses on the usability of DSF as a hybrid system and evaluates the performance. First, parametric analysis of the hybrid solar heating façade geometry and thermal properties of glazing and absorber materials was performed to identify the most influencing design parameters. Second, the multivariate linear regression (MLR) model was developed to predict the performance of all parameters comprehensively affecting the hybrid solar heating façade. Finally, the performance of various design alternatives for hybrid solar heating façade that provide the minimum fresh air supply was evaluated through case studies. The analysis results confirmed that the hybrid solar heating façade can reduce the heating energy due to the preheating effect by up to 38%

Distinct characteristics of OxyR2, a new OxyR-type regulator, ensuring expression of Peroxiredoxin 2 detoxifying low levels of hydrogen peroxide in Vibrio vulnificus

Two peroxiredoxins, Prx1 and Prx2, were previously identified in Vibrio vulnificus. Besides OxyR1, a homologue of Escherichia coliOxyR (EcOxyR), OxyR2 that shares low homology with EcOxyR was first identified in V. vulnificus. OxyR2 activated prx2 during aerobic growth, while OxyR1 activated prx1 only when exposed to exogenous H2O2. OxyR2 was oxidized to form a reversible C206 to C215 disulphide bond by sensing low levels of H2O2, which were insufficient to oxidize OxyR1, and only the oxidized OxyR2 activated prx2. OxyR25CA, in which all cysteine residues except for C206 and C215 were replaced with alanines, and its mutants, OxyR25CA-C206S and OxyR25CA-C215S, were constructed. OxyR25CA and OxyR25CA-C215S directly bound to a specific binding sequence centred at -56.5 from the prx2 transcription start site, albeit with different binding affinities. The binding sequence consisted of four ATCGnt elements spaced by a helical turn and aligned in the twofold dyad symmetry, suggesting that OxyR2 binds DNA as a tetramer. OxyR25CA-C206S also directly bound to DNA comprising more extended sequences, indicating that oxidized and reduced OxyR2 adopt different conformational states, leading to altered DNA contacts. The oxyR2 mutation reduced cytotoxicity and growth during infection, indicating that OxyR2 is essential for the pathogenesis of V. vulnificus.N

Complete chloroplast genome sequence of a medicinal landrace citrus Jinkyool (Citrus sunki Hort. ex Tanaka) in Jeju Island, Korea

Citrus sunki (Jinkyool) is a medicinal landrace citrus belonging to the Rutaceae family. We determined the complete chloroplast genome (160,699 bp) of C. sunki CRS0085 in Jeju Island, Korea. The genome is composed of four distinct parts; a large single copy of 87,918 bp, a small single copy of 21,355 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat regions of 25,713 bp. A total of 134 genes including 89 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes were identified. The phylogenetic tree showed that C. sunki CRS0085 has the closest relationship with C. reticulata within genus Citrus

Systematic functional profiling of transcription factor networks in <em>Cryptococcus neoformans</em>

International audienceCryptococcus neoformans causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis in humans, but its overall biological and pathogenic regulatory circuits remain elusive, particularly due to the presence of an evolutionarily divergent set of transcription factors (TFs). Here, we report the construction of a high-quality library of 322 signature-tagged gene-deletion strains for 155 putative TF genes previously predicted using the DNA-binding domain TF database, and examine their in vitro and in vivo phenotypic traits under 32 distinct growth conditions. At least one phenotypic trait is exhibited by 145 out of 155 TF mutants (93%) and ∼85% of them (132/155) are functionally characterized for the first time in this study. The genotypic and phenotypic data for each TF are available in the C. neoformans TF phenome database (http://tf.cryptococcus.org). In conclusion, our phenome-based functional analysis of the C. neoformans TF mutant library provides key insights into transcriptional networks of basidiomycetous fungi and human fungal pathogens