Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool (IUMAT)

A number of tools are available today for simulating different aspects of urban activity, but these efforts are fragmented and do not effectively reflect the interrelationships between very diverse groups of urban sectors and resource flows. There is a critical need for robust and reliable urban metabolism analysis tools that integrate socio-economic elements of urbanization and physicality of the built environment into evaluating sustainability in cities. This dissertation outlines the development of an Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool (IUMAT) that dynamically measures the environmental impacts of land cover, transportation, and consumption of energy, water and materials employing a holistic framework. It includes examination of the existing scholarship on urban metabolism as well as description of the calculative framework for IUMAT. The scope of work is establishment of the Residential Energy Model that would serve as a template for the larger Energy, Water and Materials (EWM) Model. The EWM model takes a bottom-up approach to generate spatial resource demand profiles based on building and neighborhood characteristics. Finally, Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2009 data is used to explain how the proposed framework makes use of actual data to find determinants of resources’ demand and unravel correlations between environmental consequences and myriad of urban variables. Quantile regression is explored as a robust method for large-scale energy modeling that is a prototype for resource use projection within other urban sectors

UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines 2013

Facilities & Campus Services, Sustainable UMass and Campus Planning support sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers and contractors working with the University. The UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED certification by focusing the conversation on green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings

UMass Amherst Energy Modeling Guidelines

Facilities & Campus Services, Sustainable UMass and Campus Planning support sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers and contractors working with the University. The Campus energy Modeling Guidelines were developed in 2015 as a resource on how to: i) generate energy models for campus buildings; ii) provide quality assurance review of current energy models; and iii) share UMass Amherst energy modeling input parameters with project design teams for them to establish a baseline building energy profile

UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines v.2 and LEEDv4

Facilities & Campus Services supports sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers, contractors and other consultants working with the University. The UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines v2 and LEED v4 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED v4 certification by focusing the conversation on those green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings

UMass Amherst Building Measurement, Verification, Coordination and Template Plan

Facilities & Campus Services, Sustainable UMass and Campus Planning support sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers and contractors working with the University. The UMass Amherst Building Measurement, Verification, Coordination and Template Plan was begun in 2013 and finalized in 2015 as a resource to project teams that undertake the measurement and verification of building systems during the first year of occupancy of a new building and renovation project, particularly projects undergoing LEED certification

UMass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter

The UMass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter articulates the manner in which the Campus Master Plan 2012 principles translate into specific recommendations for campus systems development in support of future smart growth. It summarizes the current physical campus-scale planning projects that Facilities & Campus Services have completed during and after the Master Plan process, and incorporates other operational and educational initiatives that have engaged our campus community as we plan for sustainability. The CMP Chapter is organized in three major sections: i) sustainability overview; ii) campus master plan systems; iii) current initiatives; and iv) next steps. The first section provides the context for sustainability planning at UMass Amherst and summarizes key drivers, such as the Climate Action Plan of 2012 and our approach to greenhouse gas emissions accounting. The second section articulates the Campus Master Plan 2012 systems approach to sustainability and reviews other completed operational initiatives in infrastructure and facilities planning. The overview of current initiatives describes major efforts to advance sustainability across the campus community and is the basis for outlining the steps that Facilities & Campus Services and Sustainable UMass plan to take to advance the goal for a carbon neutral campus

The Relationship between Urban Density and Building Energy Consumption

Neighborhood characteristics influence natural urban energy fluxes and the choices made by urban actors. This article focuses on the impact of urban density as a neighborhood physical parameter on building energy consumption profiles for seven different metropolitan areas in the United States. Primarily, 30 × 30 m2 cells were classified into five categories of settlement density using the US Geological Survey’s National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD), the US Census, and Census Block data. In the next step, linear hierarchical spatial and non-spatial models were developed and applied to building energy data in those seven metropolitan areas to explore the links between urban density (and other urban form parameters) and energy performance, using both frequentist and Bayesian statistics. Our results indicate that urban density is correlated with energy-use intensity (EUI), but its impact is not similar across different metropolitan areas. The outcomes of our analysis further show that the distance from buildings within which the influence of urban form parameters on EUI is most significant varies by city and negatively changes with urban density. Although the relationship between urban density parameters and EUI varies across cities, tree-cover area, impervious area, and neighborhood building-covered area have a more consistent impact compared to building and housing density

Assessment of Recombination in the S-segment Genome of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus in Iran

Background: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) belongs to genus Nairovirus and family Bunyaviridae. The main aim of this study was to investigate the extent of recombination in S-segment genome of CCHFV in Iran. Methods: Samples were isolated from Iranian patients and those available in GenBank, and analyzed by phyloge­netic and bootscan methods. Results: Through comparison of the phylogenetic trees based on full length sequences and partial fragments in the S-segment genome of CCHFV, genetic switch was evident, due to recombination event. Moreover, evidence of multi­ple recombination events was detected in query isolates when bootscan analysis was used by SimPlot software. Conclusion: Switch of different genomic regions between different strains by recombination could contribute to CCHFV diversification and evolution. The occurrence of recombination in CCHFV has a critical impact on epidemi­ological investigations and vaccine design

Surveillance of Rift Valley Fever in Iran between 2001 and 2011

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an acute zoonotic viral disease that mostly affects ruminants with an occasional spillover as human infection. Following the outbreak of RVF in Saudi Arabia in 2000, surveillance of both animal and human population in Iran increased until 2011. During this period 1206 ovine, 405 caprine, 325 bovine and 28 camel samples were tested for RVFV in nine provinces in Iran. None of these samples tested IgG positive. Moreover, amongst 37 clinically suspected human cases of patients with RVF symptoms, none of these samples tested positive for RVFV. Despite the fact that no positive cases in human or animal populations were identified in Iran, surveillance and monitoring of viral haemorrhagic fevers including RVFV will continue