Life Cycle Thinking Based Methodology for the Evaluation of Building Energy Retrofits

With current increasing climate change concerns, enhancing infrastructure sustainability is essential to the help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Today, 45% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the production of heat and electricity for buildings. Green building energy retrofits are useful to help decrease the energy consumption of a building and resulting emissions from a building. Before applying energy retrofits, evaluating their sustainability is important but can be challenging without the proper tools due to the many factors that need to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, life cycle thinking is crucial when making decisions on building retrofits implementation, and life cycle assessments are a valuable tool to help conduct sustainability evaluations. This research project aims to create a comprehensive methodology that will assess and compare building retrofits through life cycle thinking and the evaluation of environmental, economic, social and technical criteria. Appropriate key performance indicators are chosen for each criterion along with the development of a life cycle impact database. Overall, this research creates a comprehensive Microsoft Excel-based tool which may be used by building managers or stakeholders to determine the optimal energy retrofit

Usporedba hranidbenog i funkcionalnog potencijala sirupa od rogača sa sirupima od datulja i javora

Research background. The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is grown primarily for its seeds that are utilized in the production of the highly prized locust bean gum. The material left after the separation of seeds from the pods is utilized in the production of a range of traditional products including carob syrup, usually in cottage-type industries. The international market penetration of carob syrups is rather limited and, accordingly, scant information exists on their composition and phytochemical properties compared to mainstream syrups. The present study aims to determine key chemical parameters, phenolic profiles and antioxidant properties of carob syrups and benchmark these against those of date and maple syrups. Experimental approach. Carob syrups were prepared from 19 accessions of the carob, under laboratory conditions, by a similar procedure to those practiced by small-scale producers. The pH, browning index, the content of proteins, minerals, hydroxymethylfurfural, sugar composition, total phenols, antioxidant capacity and phenolic profiles of the produced syrups along with branded samples of date and maple syrups were analyzed. Results and conclusions. The pH and sugar composition of the carob syrups were comparable to those of date and maple syrups. In general, the carob syrups contained more proteins, minerals, phenolic acids, flavonoids and total phenols, and exhibited higher antioxidant capacity than the date and maple syrups. The carob syrups exhibited excessive browning and contained more, or comparable content of hydroxymethylfurfural, than the date and maple syrups. The data indicate that carob syrups provide more nutrients and possess superior antioxidant potential to date and maple syrups. The high contents of the carcinogenic hydroxymethylfurfural of the carob syrups warrant milder heating regimens in the concentration step during production. Novelty and scientific contribution. In contrast to studies based on commercial and/or homemade syrups, this work utilized a relatively large number of laboratory-prepared samples for creating a robust database for carob syrup. The results indicated that carob syrups possess superior health promotion and disease prevention effects than the widely traded date and maple syrups. In addition to their potential positive contribution to public health, carob syrups have been shown to be promising candidates for bolstering the economic returns of farmers in carob-producing countries.Pozadina istraživanja. Stablo rogača (Ceratonia siliqua L.) se uzgaja primarno zbog sjemenki koje se koriste u proizvodnji visoko cijenjene karuba gume. Materijal koji zaostaje nakon izdvajanja sjemenki iz mahuna koristi se za proizvodnju različitih tradicijskih proizvoda poput sirupa od rogača, najčešće u kućnoj proizvodnji. Probitak na međunarodno tržište je ograničen, pa su i informacije o sastavu i fitokemijskim svojstvima ovog proizvoda nedostatne u usporedbi s komercijalnim sirupima. Svrha je ovoga rada bila odrediti glavne kemijske parametre, fenolni profil i antioksidacijska svojstva sirupa od rogača, te ih usporediti s onima sirupa od datulja i javora. Eksperimentalni pristup. Sirupi od rogača su pripremljeni u laboratorijskim uvjetima od 19 uzoraka rogača, i to postupkom sličnim onima koje koriste mali proizvođači. U dobivenim sirupima te u komercijalnim sirupima od javora i datulje ispitani su: pH-vrijednost, indeks posmeđivanja, udjeli proteina, mineralnih tvari i hidroksimetilfurfurala, sastavi šećera i ukupnih fenola, antioksidacijska sposobnost i fenolni profil. Rezultati i zakjučci. Vrijednosti pH i sastav šećera dobivenih sirupa od rogača bili su slični onima sirupa od datulja i javora. Sirupi rogača su općenito imali veće udjele proteina, mineralnih tvari, fenolnih kiselina, flavonoida i ukupnih fenola, te izraženiju antioksidacijsku aktivnost od sirupa od javora i datulja. Vrijednosti indeksa posmeđivanja sirupa od rogača su bile visoke, a u usporedbi sa sirupima od datulja i javora sadržavali su više ili otprilike jednako hidroksimetilfurfurala. Dobivene vrijednosti pokazuju da sirupi od rogača imaju veći udjel hranjivih tvari i bolji antioksidacijski potencijal od sirupa od datulja i javora. Zaključeno je da bi zbog velikog udjela kancerogenog hidroksimetilfurfurala u sirupu od rogača temperatura zagrijavanja tijekom zgušnjavanja trebala biti niža. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. Za razliku od istraživanja koja koriste komercijalne uzorke i/ili one domaće proizvodnje, u ovom je radu korišten relativno velik broj uzoraka pripremljenih u laboratoriju radi izrade sveobuhvatne baze podataka o sirupu od rogača. Rezultati pokazuju da sirupi od rogača imaju pozitivniji učinak na zdravlje od na tržištu znatno više zastupljenih sirupa od datulja i javora. Osim njihovog potencijalnog pozitivnog učinka na zdravlje ljudi, sirupi od rogača mogu povećati prihod uzgajivača rogača

Labour Progression in Obese Women: Are Women With Increased Body Mass Index Having Unnecessary Cesarean Sections?

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to determine whether obese pregnant women undergo cesarean sections without an adequate trial of labour. This may affect future birth and pregnancy outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was done on 526 parturients at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. Women were categorized according to parity and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI; normal weight, BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m RESULTS: Obese class II and III primiparous women required an additional 1.62 and 2.67 hours (P = 0.012), respectively, to reach a dilation of 10 cm compared with their normal weight counterparts; obese class II and III multiparous women required an additional 1.25 and 2.05 hours (P = 0.003), respectively. A higher BMI was associated with increased oxytocin use and infant birth weight in primiparous women. Obese women had less gestational weight gain and required more cervical examinations. Cesarean section rates were low for obese parturients (primiparous, 19%; multiparous, 0.8%) and not significantly different among BMI categories. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed published results that labour progresses more slowly as maternal BMI increases. The study was performed in a centre with a specialized BMI pregnancy clinic; thus weight gain adherence, awareness of labour differences, and patient counselling may have contributed to low cesarean section rates. Obstetric care providers should consider differences in maternal BMI in labour progression before undertaking a potentially premature cesarean birth, especially in primiparous women

Properties of Bread Dough with Added Fiber Polysaccharides and Phenolic Antioxidants: A Review

During breadmaking, different ingredients are used to ensure the development of a continuous protein network that is essential for bread quality. Interests in incorporating bioactive ingredients such as dietary fiber (DF) and phenolic antioxidants into popular foods such as bread have grown rapidly, due to the increased consumer health awareness. The added bioactive ingredients may or may not promote the protein cross-links. Appropriate cross-links among wheat proteins, fiber polysaccharides, and phenolic antioxidants could be the most critical factor for bread dough enhanced with DF and phenolic antioxidants. Such cross-links may influence the structure and properties of a bread system during baking. This article presents a brief overview of our current knowledge of the fate of the key components (wheat proteins, fibers, and phenolic antioxidants) and how they might interact during bread dough development and baking

Synthesis and catalysis of chemically reduced metal–metalloid amorphous alloys

This is the published version. Copyright 2012 Royal Society of ChemistryAmorphous alloys structurally deviate from crystalline materials in that they possess unique short-range ordered and long-range disordered atomic arrangement. They are important catalytic materials due to their unique chemical and structural properties including broadly adjustable composition, structural homogeneity, and high concentration of coordinatively unsaturated sites. As chemically reduced metal–metalloid amorphous alloys exhibit excellent catalytic performance in applications such as efficient chemical production, energy conversion, and environmental remediation, there is an intense surge in interest in using them as catalytic materials. This critical review summarizes the progress in the study of the metal–metalloid amorphous alloy catalysts, mainly in recent decades, with special focus on their synthetic strategies and catalytic applications in petrochemical, fine chemical, energy, and environmental relevant reactions. The review is intended to be a valuable resource to researchers interested in these exciting catalytic materials. We concluded the review with some perspectives on the challenges and opportunities about the future developments of metal–metalloid amorphous alloy catalysts