Encapsulating sustainability principles for structural design of buildings

Adaptive re-use of buildings is seen by many as a key mechanism for developing a sustainable urban environment. How many buildings are actually designed with adaptive re-use as one of the requirements? This paper is concerned with how new building designs can take into account the future need for renovation, revamp and retrofit. At the outset of a building project, one cannot know for sure what modifications will be needed in the future. However, there are considerations that can be incorporated into the initial design and construction that will facilitate future renovations. Likewise there are practices that are undertaken now that will make renovations more difficult in the future. This preparation for the future re-use of buildings is an area of sustainability that has not received much attention. Examples of buildings that were originally designed with future modifications incorporated illustrate that long term thinking can lead to long term gain. There are also barriers to the long view. Economic drivers favour short term gain. The costs are levied up-front but the return on investment is many years later. The paper finishes with two case studies that demonstrate a long term sustainable approach

A checking method for probabilistic seismic-hazard assessment: case studies on three cities

The conventional Cornell's source-based approach of probabilistic seismic-hazard assessment (PSHA) has been employed all around the world, whilst many studies often rely on the use of computer packages such as FRISK (McGuire FRISK-a computer program for seismic risk analysis. Open-File Report 78-1007, United States Geological Survey, Department of Interior, Washington 1978) and SEISRISK III (Bender and Perkins SEISRISK III-a computer program for seismic hazard estimation, Bulletin 1772. United States Geological Survey, Department of Interior, Washington 1987). A "black-box" syndrome may be resulted if the user of the software does not have another simple and robust PSHA method that can be used to make comparisons. An alternative method for PSHA, namely direct amplitude-based (DAB) approach, has been developed as a heuristic and efficient method enabling users to undertake their own sanity checks on outputs from computer packages. This paper experiments the application of the DAB approach for three cities in China, Iran, and India, respectively, and compares with documented results computed by the source-based approach. Several insights regarding the procedure of conducting PSHA have also been obtained, which could be useful for future seismic-hazard studies. © 2010 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Regional differences in attenuation modelling for Eastern China

This paper describes the development of seismological models for three sub-regions within Eastern China. An important feature of the modelling is that two main types of local data were used to determine parameters for input into the seismological model. Shear wave velocity data was used in Step One of the procedure for deriving the upper crustal factors which are part of the seismological model. Two further steps were involved in incorporating the historical Intensity (MMI) data into the modelling. In Step Two, the simulated peak ground velocity (PGV) values were converted to MMI values, and site factor was calculated by dividing the inferred PGV value by the respective simulated PGV value for each given (short distance) earthquake scenario. In Step Three, the quality (Q) factor of the seismological model for each sub-region was calibrated in accordance with the criterion that site factors inferred from records of long distance earthquakes in the database match with the median site factor obtained in Step Two for short distance earthquakes. Importantly, the Q values obtained by this calibration method were highly consistent with Coda Q values (obtained for each sub-region from a previous study by Jin and Aki based on analysing records of local earth tremors). The calibrated Q values in combination with the developed crustal factors and geometrical attenuation factor constitute the regional seismological model for Eastern China. The seismological model so developed takes into account intra-regional differences and has been used to simulate strong ground motions by the stochastic method for assessing the potential seismic hazards in the region. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.postprin

Analysis of reported error in Monte Carlo rendered images

Evaluating image quality in Monte Carlo rendered images is an important aspect of the rendering process as we often need to determine the relative quality between images computed using different algorithms and with varying amounts of computation. The use of a gold-standard, reference image, or ground truth (GT) is a common method to provide a baseline with which to compare experimental results. We show that if not chosen carefully the reference image can skew results leading to significant misreporting of error. We present an analysis of error in Monte Carlo rendered images and discuss practices to avoid or be aware of when designing an experiment

Repurposing nitrofurantoin as a stimulant of fibroblast extracellular matrix repair for the treatment of emphysema

Emphysema is a respiratory disease that causes the progressive loss of lung extracellular matrix (ECM) organisation, subsequently undermining lung integrity and reducing lung function. Fibroblasts must constantly repair damage to the lungs to preserve lung health, however, fibroblast ECM repair is reduced during emphysema, causing ECM damage to outweigh fibroblast ECM maintenance. Current treatments for emphysema fail to address the root causes of emphysematous progression, highlighting the need for novel methods of treating emphysema. Nitrofurantoin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic indicated for the treatment of urinary tract infections that also displays potential as a novel avenue of emphysema treatment. Nitrofurantoin is known to potentially cause fibrotic effects that could be repurposed to increase fibroblast repair and outweigh the progressive ECM damage of the emphysematous lung. Therefore, this study examined the effects of nitrofurantoin treatment on primary human lung fibroblasts derived from emphysema patients to determine if the drug holds potential as a novel treatment for emphysema. Nitrofurantoin was shown to stimulate migration and alter fibroblast morphology by increasing cell area and reducing roundness, suggesting that it could induce an ECM-repair primed phenotype in fibroblasts. Interestingly, nitrofurantoin treatment did not alter collagen-IV, perlecan, periostin or tenascin-C deposition, though fibronectin deposition was significantly upregulated at a higher dosage (20 μg/mL). This study highlighted the nitrofurantoin induced changes to fibroblast motility and morphology that facilitate ECM repair. Thus, nitrofurantoin induced pulmonary fibrosis could be caused by a change in cell phenotype that subsequently upregulates ECM repair, indicating its potential as a treatment for emphysema

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Phenolic Profile, Nutritional Composition, Functional Properties and Antioxidant Activity of Newly Grown Parthenocarpic and Normal Seeded Tomato

The aim of the study was to compare the physico-chemical parameters, sugar, vitamin C, and phenolic profiles in five genotypes of local indeterminate tunnel tomato hybrid (LITTH) (LITTH-778, LITTH-784, LITTH-786, LITTH-788 and LITTH-790) of natural parthenocarpic tomato (NPT) and normal seeded tomato (NST). Samples were collected from the experimental fields of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Physical parameters (fruit shape, fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, number of seeds per fruit, shelf life), chemical composition (moisture, ash, crude fat, crude fibre, total carbohydrate, crude protein, vitamin C), ofNPT and NST were analyzed by reported methods. The methanolic extracts of tomato pulp were prepared by shaking and extracts were assayed for antioxidant activity. Sugars contents and phenolic profile of NPT and NST were estimatedusing HPLC method.Weight and size of NPT were less and smaller than the NST. Moreover, NPT were seedless with longer shelf-life and had more phenolic and flavonoid contents than the NST.HPLC analysis revealed that chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, p-coumeric acid were major phenolics in methanol (polar solvent) extracts of NST whereas, caffeic acid, gallic acid, p-coumeric acid in NPT extract.NPT contained higher concentration of sugar contents, but lower concentration of vitamin C than NST. In 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) free-radical-scavenging assay, NPT fruits extracts showed high scavenging activity with the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50)value of 22.56 µg/mL than NSTfruit extracts having IC50 29.49 µg/mL. This study provided useful information for farmers and nutritionists

Crude Oil-Degradation and Plasmid Profile of Nitrifying Bacteria Isolated from Oil-Impacted Mangrove Sediment in the Niger Delta of Nigeria

The crude oil degradability and plasmid profile of autotrophic nitrifying bacteria, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter species, isolated from mangrove sediment in the Niger Delta of Nigeria were studied. The effects of temperature, pH and optical density on the utilization of different carbon sources by the bacteria were also investigated. Results showed that nitrifying bacteria could utilize kerosene, diesel oil, jet fuel and engine oil as carbon sources. None utilized hexane and xylene but moderate growth was observed in benzene, phenol and toluene. However, their ability to utilized crude oil varied both in rates of utilization and in growth profiles. Mixed culture of the isolates degrades 52 % of crude oil introduced into the medium followed by Nitrosomonas sp. with 40 % degradation. The least was Nitrobacter sp. with 20 % degradation. The ability of the autotrophs to degrade crude oil was found to be plasmid-mediated through curing experiment and electrophoresis. The size of the plasmid involved was estimated to be 23 kb. The high crude oil utilization of the mixed culture implies that nitrifying bacteria isolated from contaminated ecosystem are excellent crude oil degraders and can be harnessed for bioremediation purposes

Altitudinal variation in soil organic carbon stock in coniferous subtropical and broadleaf temperate forests in Garhwal Himalaya

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Himalayan zones, with dense forest vegetation, cover a fifth part of India and store a third part of the country reserves of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the details of altitudinal distribution of these carbon stocks, which are vulnerable to forest management and climate change impacts, are not well known.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This article reports the results of measuring the stocks of SOC along altitudinal gradients. The study was carried out in the coniferous subtropical and broadleaf temperate forests of Garhwal Himalaya. The stocks of SOC were found to be decreasing with altitude: from 185.6 to 160.8 t C ha^-1and from 141.6 to 124.8 t C ha^-1in temperature (<it>Quercus leucotrichophora</it>) and subtropical (<it>Pinus roxburghii</it>) forests, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study lead to conclusion that the ability of soil to stabilize soil organic matter depends negatively on altitude and call for comprehensive theoretical explanation</p