Characterisation of Nature-Based Solutions for the Built Environment

Nature has provided humankind with food, fuel, and shelter throughout evolutionary history. However, in contemporary cities, many natural landscapes have become degraded and replaced with impermeable hard surfaces (e.g., roads, paving, car parks and buildings). The reversal of this trend is dynamic, complex and still in its infancy. There are many facets of urban greening initiatives involving multiple benefits, sensitivities and limitations. The aim of this paper is to develop a characterisation method of nature based solutions for designing and retrofitting in the built environment, and to facilitate knowledge transfer between disciplines and for design optimisation. Based on a review of the literature across disciplines, key characteristics could be organised into four groups: policy and community initiatives, multiple benefits assessment, topology, and design options. Challenges and opportunities for developing a characterisation framework to improve the use of nature based solutions in the built environment are discussed

Exploring design principles of biological and living building envelopes:What can we learn from plant cell walls?

A number of innovations in building envelope technologies have been implemented recently, for example, to improve insulation and air tightness to reduce energy consumption. However, growing concern over the embodied energy and carbon as well as resource depletion, is beginning to impact on the design and implementation of existing and novel building envelope technologies. Biomimicry is proposed as one approach to create buildings which are resilient to a changing climate, embedded in wider ecological systems, energy efficient and waste free. However, the diversity of form and function in biological organisms and therefore potential applications for biomimicry, requires a holistic approach spanning biology, materials science and architecture. It is considered timely to re-examine opportunities to learn from nature, including in the light of recent understanding of how plant form and function are determined at the cellular levels. In this article, we call for a systemic approach for the development of innovative biological and living building envelopes. Plant cell walls are compared to building envelopes. Key features of cell walls with the potential to inform the development of design principles ofPeer reviewe

Growing and testing mycelium bricks as building insulation materials

In order to improve energy performance of buildings, insulation materials (such as mineral glass and rock wools, or fossil fuel-based plastic foams) are being used in increasing quantities, which may lead to potential problem with materials depletions and landfill disposal. One sustainable solution suggested is the use of bio-based, biodegradable materials. A number of attempts have been made to develop biomaterials, such as sheep wood, hemcrete or recycled papers. In this paper, a novel type of bio insulation materials ? mycelium is examined. The aim is to produce mycelium materials that could be used as insulations. The bio-based material was required to have properties that matched existing alternatives, such as expanded polystyrene, in terms of physical and mechanical characteristics but with an enhanced level of biodegradability. The testing data showed mycelium bricks exhibited good thermal performance. Future work is planned to improve growing process and thermal performance of the mycelium brickspublishersversionPeer reviewe

Review: Improving the impact of plant science on urban planning and design

Urban planning is a vital process in determining the functionality of future cities. It is predicted that at least two thirds of the world’s citizens will reside in towns and cities by the middle of this century, up from one third in the middle of the previous century. Not only is it essential to provide space for work and dwelling, but also for their well-being. Well-being is inextricably linked with the surrounding environment, and natural landscapes have a potent positive effect. For this reason, the inclusion and management of urban green infrastructure has become a topic of increasing scientific interest. Elements of this infrastructure, including green roofs and façades are of growing importance to operators in each stage of the planning, design and construction process in urban areas. Currently, there is a strong recognition that “green is good”. Despite the positive recognition of urban greenery, and the concerted efforts to include more of it in cities, greater scientific attention is needed to better understand its role in the urban environment. For example, many solutions are cleverly engineered without giving sufficient consideration to the biology of the vegetation that is used. This review contends that whilst “green is good” is a positive mantra to promote the inclusion of urban greenery, there is a significant opportunity to increase the contribution of plant science to the process of urban planning through both green infrastructure, and biomimicry

Low temperature district heating network planning with the focus on distribution energy losses

An integrated conceptual planning framework has been developed to assist designing for high resource efficient, low carbon urban district heating systems. This paper focuses on distribution energy losses of a district heating system for an existing urban settlement. The planning framework consists of a methodological approach and a set of simulation tools to investigate two scenarios – low temperature and high temperature district heating networks. In this framework a dynamic building simulation program predicting energy demand of a case study area, an industrial software tool for piping systems design, and a mathematical optimization tool are integrated for assessing energy and exergy losses. Some preliminary results are shown at the end of the paper demonstrating the benefits of low temperature district heating networks and potential of the planning framework

BRAF V600E Status Sharply Differentiates Lymph Node Metastasis-associated Mortality Risk in Papillary Thyroid Cancer

[Context]: How lymph node metastasis (LNM)-associated mortality risk is affected by BRAF V600E in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remains undefined. [Objective]: To study whether BRAF V600E affected LNM-associated mortality in PTC. [Design, Setting, and Participants]: We retrospectively analyzed the effect of LNM on PTC-specific mortality with respect to BRAF status in 2638 patients (2015 females and 623 males) from 11 centers in 6 countries, with median age of 46 [interquartile range (IQR) 35-58] years and median follow-up time of 58 (IQR 26-107) months. [Results]: Overall, LNM showed a modest mortality risk in wild-type BRAF patients but a strong one in BRAF V600E patients. In conventional PTC (CPTC), LNM showed no increased mortality risk in wild-type BRAF patients but a robustly increased one in BRAF V600E patients; mortality rates were 2/659 (0.3%) vs 4/321 (1.2%) in non-LNM vs LNM patients (P = 0.094) with wild-type BRAF, corresponding to a hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) of 4.37 (0.80-23.89), which remained insignificant at 3.32 (0.52-21.14) after multivariate adjustment. In BRAF V600E CPTC, morality rates were 7/515 (1.4%) vs 28/363 (7.7%) in non-LNM vs LNM patients (P < 0.001), corresponding to an HR of 4.90 (2.12-11.29) or, after multivariate adjustment, 5.76 (2.19-15.11). Adjusted mortality HR of coexisting LNM and BRAF V600E vs absence of both was 27.39 (5.15-145.80), with Kaplan-Meier analyses showing a similar synergism. [Conclusions]: LNM-associated mortality risk is sharply differentiated by the BRAF status in PTC; in CPTC, LNM showed no increased mortality risk with wild-type BRAF but a robust one with BRAF mutation. These results have strong clinical relevance.This work was supported partly by the following funding at the individual participating centers: Polish National Center of Research and Development MILESTONE Project—molecular diagnostics and imaging in individualized therapy for breast, thyroid and prostate cancer, grant No. STRATEGMED2/267398/4/ NCBR/2015 (Poland, AC, BJ); Grants No. PID2019-105303RB-I00 (AEI from MICINN), GCB14142311CRES (AECC Foundation), and B2017/BMD-3724 TIRONET2-CM (Spain; PS and GR-E); Grant No. AZV 16-32665A and MH CZ-DRO (Institute of Endocrinology-EU, 00023761) (Czech Republic; BB, VS); NIH/ National Institute on Aging Grant No. 5R03AG042334-02 (LY); and grants from the Qingdao Science and Technology Project for People’s Livelihood No.13-1-3-58-nsh (China; FW) and the Innovative Platform Project of Qingdao No.12-1-2-15-jch (China; YW)