Precarity, the future of architectural research in a time of much uncertainty

Editoral framing of the special issue of ENQ on PRECARITY: PhD conference on architectural research at the limits of technology, project-making, and history/theory held on APRIL 22-23, 2022 and organized and sponsored by the PhD Program in Architecture at UPENN, Weitzman School of Desig

Innovative Sustainable Water Management Practices in Solar Residential Design

This paper communicates the results of an architectural research project which sought innovative design strategies for achieving energy and resource efficiencies in water management systems traditionally used in single-family housing. It describes the engineering of an efficient, multifaceted, and fully integrated water management system for a domesticenvironment of 800 sq. ft., entirely powered by solar energy. The four innovations whose details are conveyed include the use of alternate materials for piping distribution and collection, the use of water in solar energy generation, the design of a building skin which capitalizes on water's capacity to store heat as well as the design of a ecological groundscape which re-usesand filters waste water and rain water.Keywords: energy, plumbing, home desig

Advanced Energy Retrofit - Designing Integrated Design Roadmaps

Today’s commercial building market can ill afford the renovation of buildings by industry professionals that use archaic methods and uniformed approaches that neglect to account for the building’s energy consumption. This paper advances a comprehensive solution for minimizing energy consumption in existing small to medium-sized commercial buildings. Committed to increasing the number of advanced energy retrofits completed in the United States over the next 20 years, this research team has over the past two years developed an Integrated Design Roadmap for advanced energy retrofits designed to assist project teams and building owners in achieving deep energy savings in the renovation of existing buildings. The paper’s content was produced as part of a research initiative of the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (formerly the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub) and sponsored by the United States (US) Department of Energy since 2011. The Integrated Design (ID) Advanced Energy Retrofit (AER) Roadmap discussed in this paper contains a series of process documents of use to owners, project managers, financial investors, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals, as well as energy modeling and measurement consultants involved in the completion of an AER, with targeted savings of 50% energy use against its pre-retrofit baseline consumption. This paper will describe the preliminary research required in the design of the ID AER Roadmap, as well as the overall document suite. The ID AER Roadmap document suite includes an Overview brochure that introduces the principle ID concepts, as well as a Reference Manual that details these concepts, with the final component being a Project Team Guide of use to professionals in the building industry. The ID AER Roadmap document suite promotes the adoption of Integrated Design principles during the completion of an advanced energy retrofit. It identifies a set of seven process-based protocols key to the success of any AER, the details of which are described in this paper. The research which has served as a foundation for the Roadmap’s development includes a national survey of advanced energy retrofits completed in the US since the year 2000, a series of interviews of leading professionals who practice Integrated Design, and direct engagement with members of the AEC industry to introduce the Roadmap to a larger market audience

Vacuum insulated panels for sustainable buildings: a review of research and applications

New research has identified vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) as highly efficient insulators for use in building construction. They are reported to be several times more effective than conventional materials of a similar thickness in terms of thermal conductivity. Because of their smaller space requirement, VIPs maximize the internal usage area of buildings and so reduce the cost of construction. There are however some obstacles that have hindered the application of VIPs, notably their high cost, susceptibility to perforation and the long-term water and gas effects that worsen their performance. This paper reviews the contemporary research on VIP as a state-of-the-art material for building insulation. The main components and physical principles of VIP performance are discussed. Finally, the review of VIPs available on the market and their performance is provided

Cellular immune responses in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) vaccinated weaned piglets challenged with a virulent strain of PRRSV

The porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is an important viral infection of swine that can persist in lymphoid organs of infected pigs despite the induction of specific immune responses, suggesting an immune evasion mechanism. Vaccination has been shown to prevent climcal signs but remains ineffective against viral persistence. Our objective was to investigate the immunological disorders related to vaccination and subsequent challenge by a virulent strain. Groups of piglets were vaccmated with RespPRRS vaccine (Boehringer-lngelheim) and challenged 4 weeks later with the virulent LHVA-93-3 strain of the PRRS virus

Old dog begging for new tricks: current practices and future directions in the diagnosis of delayed antimicrobial hypersensitivity

Purpose of review: Antimicrobials are a leading cause of severe T cell-mediated adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The purpose of this review is to address the current understanding of antimicrobial cross-reactivity and the ready availability of and evidence for in-vitro, in-vivo, and ex-vivo diagnostics for T cell-mediated ADRs. Recent findings: Recent literature has evaluated the efficacy of traditional antibiotic allergy management, including patch testing, skin prick testing, intradermal testing, and oral challenge. Although patch and intradermal testing are specific for the diagnosis of immune-mediated ADRs, they suffer from drug-specific limitations in sensitivity. The use of ex-vivo diagnostics, especially enzyme-linked immunospot, has been highlighted as a promising new approach to assigning causality. Knowledge of true rates of antimicrobial cross-reactivity aids empirical antibiotic choice in the setting of previous immune-mediated ADRs. Summary: In an era of increasing antimicrobial resistance and use of broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy, ensuring patients are assigned the correct ‘allergy label’ is essential. Re-exposure to implicated antimicrobials, especially in the setting of severe adverse cutaneous reaction, is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The process through which an antibiotic label gets assigned, acted on and maintained is still imprecise. Predicting T cell-mediated ADRs via personalized approaches, including human leukocyte antigen-typing, may pave future pathways to safer antimicrobial prescribing guidelines

Équité environnementale : la répartition des espaces verts en milieu urbain, le cas de la ville de Montréal

Cet essai a pour objectif d’explorer les stratégies qui permettraient de rééquilibrer la répartition des espaces verts urbains de la Ville de Montréal pour réduire les inégalités socio-environnementales qui touchent les quartiers défavorisés. Au début des années 80, des groupes considérés plus vulnérables, principalement les populations issues de la minorité visible, ont commencé à dénoncer les injustices socio-environnementales qu’elles vivaient. Ces protestations ont mené à la naissance du concept de la justice environnementale. Les enjeux qui relèvent de ce concept sont multiples. Dans le cadre de ce travail, on s’intéressera à ceux qui concernent la répartition des parcs et espaces verts urbains. En effet, il est reconnu que ces milieux offrent plusieurs avantages environnementaux, sociaux et économiques. Cependant, la littérature a démontré que leur présence est moins importante dans les quartiers plus défavorisés, et pourtant, ce sont les populations de ces secteurs qui pourraient en tirer le plus de bénéfices. Malheureusement, la Ville de Montréal n’échappe pas à cette réalité. Pour déterminer si la métropole canadienne détient les ressources nécessaires pour réduire les iniquités concernant ses parcs et espaces verts urbains, trois stratégies et initiatives inspirantes qui ont permis à différentes grandes villes de rétablir cet équilibre ont été analysées. Ensuite, après avoir tiré le portrait de la Ville de Montréal, il a été possible de créer une cadre d’analyse de type freins et leviers. Cet outil permettait de comparer les trois stratégies et initiatives inspirantes afin d’observer laquelle serait la plus propice à implanter à Montréal. De cette façon, il était alors possible de voir le potentiel de réalisation de projets de ce type dans le contexte montréalais. Les résultats ont montré que Montréal pourrait miser sur plusieurs leviers pour mettre en marche des projets axés sur la répartition des espaces verts urbains. Quelques freins représentent une barrière pour certaines stratégies et initiatives, mais aucune d’entre elles ne frappait l’ensemble des freins qui avaient été déterminés. Le manque de connaissances, notamment sur la situation sociodémographique du territoire, est le frein qui cause le plus de problèmes, car il touche les trois projets. La conclusion de cet essai met de l’avant que Montréal a tout en son pouvoir pour mettre en place des projets qui permettraient de réduire les iniquités environnementales concernant la répartition des parcs et espaces verts urbains. Le constat principal est que la Ville doit réaliser davantage de recherches et d’études sur sa population afin de bien identifier où sont les groupes plus vulnérables qui n’ont pas accès à des espaces végétalisés. De cette manière, il sera plus facile pour les acteurs municipaux de cibler les endroits où les interventions de verdissement devraient être réalisées. Les enjeux socio- environnementaux doivent être au cœur des projets d’aménagement d’infrastructure verte, si l’on veut que ces dernières permettent réellement d’améliorer la répartition des parcs et espaces verts sur l’île. Finalement, la Ville gagnerait à collaborer et impliquer davantage les diverses parties prenantes de son territoire, dont les OBNL et les citoyens, pour mieux saisir les enjeux et les besoins de ses citoyens

Safety of cephalosporins in penicillin class severe delayed hypersensitivity reactions

Letter to the edito

Return to Sender: The need to re-address patient antibiotic allergy labels in Australia and New Zealand

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic allergies are frequently reported and have significant impacts upon appropriate prescribing and clinical outcomes. We surveyed infectious diseases physicians, allergists, clinical immunologists and hospital pharmacists to evaluate antibiotic allergy knowledge and service delivery in Australia and New Zealand. METHODS: An online multi-choice questionnaire was developed and endorsed by representatives of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA), Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases (ASID) and Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia (SHPA). The 37-item survey was distributed in April 2015 to members of ASCIA, ASID, SHPA and Royal Australasian College of Physicians. RESULTS: Of 277 respondents, 94% currently use or would utilise antibiotic allergy testing (AAT) and reported seeing up to 10 patients/week labelled as antibiotic-allergic. Forty-two per cent were not aware of or did not have AAT available. Most felt that AAT would aid antibiotic selection, antibiotic appropriateness and antimicrobial stewardship (79%, 69% and 61%, respectively). Patients with histories of immediate hypersensitivity were more likely to be referred than those with delayed hypersensitivities (76% vs. 41%, p=0.0001). Lack of specialist physicians (20%) and personal experience (17%) were barriers to service delivery. A multidisciplinary approach was the preferred AAT model (53%). Knowledge gaps were identified, with the majority over-estimating rates of penicillin/cephalosporin (78%), penicillin/carbapenem (57%) and penicillin/monobactam (39%) cross-reactivity. CONCLUSIONS: A high burden of antibiotic allergy labelling and demand for AAT is complicated by a relative lack availability or awareness of AAT services in Australia and New Zealand. Antibiotic allergy education and deployment of AAT, accessible to community and hospital-based clinicians, may improve clinical decisions and reduce antibiotic allergy impacts. A collaborative approach involving ID physicians, pharmacists and allergists/immunologists is required