Climate co-benefits of green building standards: water,waste and transportation

This paper quantifies the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions co-benefits associated with water, waste and transportation usage in certified green commercial office buildings in California. The study compares the measured values of water, waste and transportation usage self-reported by office buildings certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM) to baseline values of conventional California office buildings. The green buildings in the LEED EBOM dataset produced 50% less GHGs due to water consumption than baseline buildings, 48% less due to solid waste management, and 5% less due to transportation. If applied to the entire California office building stock, performance typical of the certified green buildings would save 730,038?MgCO₂e/yr (metric tonnes) from transportation, 87,601?MgCO₂e/yr from water, and 45,280?MgCO₂e/yr from waste, for a total potential savings of about 862,920?MgCO₂e/yr relative to conventional construction. In addition, buildings earning additional credits for specified performance thresholds for water and waste in the LEED EBOM code attained performance levels even higher than required by the code provisions, suggesting that such code provisions in other contexts may help incentivize larger GHG emissions reductions than anticipated. Specific recommendations are made for building standards and certification schemes.     

Heterogeneous extractive batch distillation of chloroform-methanol-water: Feasibility and experiments

A novel heterogeneous extractive distillation process is considered for separating the azeotropic mixture chloroform-methanol in a batch rectifying column, including for the first time an experimental validation of the process. Heterogeneous heavy entrainer water is selected inducing an unstable ternary heteroazeotrope and a saddle binary heteroazeotrope with chloroform (ternary diagram class 2.1-2b). Unlike the well-known heterogeneous azeotropic distillation process and thanks to continuous water feeding at the column top, the saddle binary heteroazeotrope chloroform-water is obtained at the column top, condensed and further split into the liquid-liquid decanter where the chloroform-rich phase is drawn as distillate. First, feasibility analysis is carried out by using a simplified differential model in the extractive section for determining the proper range of the entrainer flowrate and the reflux ratio. The operating conditions and reflux policy are validated by rigorous simulation with ProSim Batch Column^® where technical features of a bench scale distillation column have been described. Six reproducible experiments are run in the bench scale column matching the simulated operating conditions with two sequentially increasing reflux ratio values. Simulation and experiments agree well. With an average molar purity higher than 99%, more than 85% of recovery yield was obtained for chloroform and methanol.     

A low-power highly digitized receiver for 2.4-GHz-band GFSK applications

This paper describes the design and measurement results of a low-power highly digitized receiver for Gaussian frequency-shift keying modulated input signals at 2.4 GHz. The RF front-end has been based on a low-IF architecture and does not require any variable gain or filtering blocks. The full dynamic range of the low-IF signal is converted into the digital domain by a low-power high-resolution time-continuous SigmaDelta analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This leads to a linear receive chain without limiters. A fifth-order poly-phase loop filter is used in the complex SigmaDelta ADC. The digital block performs filtering and demodulation. Channel filtering is combined with matched filtering and the suppression of noise resulting from the SigmaDelta ADC. The high degree of digitization leads to design flexibility with respect to changing standards and scalability in future CMOS generations. The receiver has been realized in a standard 0.18-mum CMOS process and measures 3.5 mm². The only external components are an antenna filter and a crystal. The power consumption is only 32 mW in the continuous mode, which is at least a factor of two lower than state-of-the-art CMOS receivers     

西班牙卡蒙纳的巴特勒酒窟——一个与乡土相关的生物气候学建筑

自20世纪90年代始,欧洲大陆的葡萄种植进入了结构调整期。卡蒙纳,一个西班牙的家庭式酒酿造企业,在这个倾向下迁离市中心的陈旧结构,修建了一座新的建筑体。在2001年第一期工程期间,建筑师达到了能量消耗减低和工作空间最优化的指标。在2008年的第二期工程规划期间,景观设计师苏阿茜·丹尔娞(SoazigDarnay)对游人接待的逻辑和整座酒窟建筑及其生产活动与周边环境之融为一体进行了思考。项目建立在酒窟、田野和临近的山川和谐的概念上。     

Effect of heat stress on production of Mediterranean dairy sheep

A study on heat stress in Mediterranean dairy sheep was undertaken with the objective to examine the relationship between milk production and heat stress, to estimate the additive genetic variances of milk production traits and heat tolerance, and to investigate the possibility of future selection for increased heat tolerance. Production data included 59,661 test-day records belonging to 6624 lactations of 4428 lactating ewes from 17 flocks collected from 1994 through 2003. The traits investigated were daily milk yield, fat and protein percentage, and daily yield of fat-plus-protein. The pedigree file consisted of 5306 animals; in addition to the 4428 animals with records, 188 male and 690 female ancestors were included. Heat stress was modeled by using data from a weather station. Apart from the effects of the weather conditions of the milk recording test-day, the effects of the preceding 1, 2, and 3 d were determined. Because longer periods of heat stress might have a more severe effect than shorter periods, 2-, 3-, and 4-d periods were also considered, by averaging the weather data measurements. Fixed regression analyses were based on models that included effects of flock nested within year of test-day, DIM (days in milk) class x parity class, and several types of weather indicators. The preferred model using the temperature-humidity index (THI) gave a smoother pattern than did the model with temperature x humidity interaction. Both daily milk and fat-plus-protein yield appeared to decrease at THI > or = 23, in all periods considered. Based on the 4-d period, yield decreased for each unit increase of THI above 23 [-62.8 g/unit (-4.2%) for daily milk yield and -8.9 g/unit (-4.9%) for daily fat-plus-protein yield]. Fat and protein percentages appeared to be unaffected by heat stress. A test-day repeatability model was applied for estimation of genetic parameters. The genetic correlations between the general additive effect and the additive effect of heat tolerance were negative (approximately -0.8) for both daily milk and fat-plus-protein yields in all periods considered. Therefore, milk yield is antagonistic with heat tolerance, and selection only for increased milk production will reduce heat tolerance.     

Parameters for milk somatic cell score and relationships with production traits in primiparous dairy sheep

A total of 13,066 first-lactation test-day records of 2,277 Valle del Belice ewes from 17 flocks were used to estimate genetic parameters for somatic cell scores (SCS) and milk production traits, using a repeatability test-day animal model. Heritability estimates were low and ranged from 0.09 to 0.14 for milk, fat, and protein yields, and contents. For SCS, the heritability of 0.14 was relatively high. The repeatabilities were moderate and ranged from 0.29 to 0.47 for milk production traits. The repeatability for SCS was 0.36. Flock-test-day explained a large proportion of the variation for milk production traits, but it did not have a big effect on SCS. The genetic correlations of fat and protein yields with fat and protein percentages were positive and high, indicating a strong association between these traits. The genetic correlations of milk production traits with SCS were positive and ranged from 0.16 to 0.31. The results showed that SCS is a heritable trait in Valle del Belice sheep and that single-trait selection for increased milk production will also increase SCS.     

Adipocyte-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: State of the Art

White adipose tissue (WAT) is involved in long-term energy storage and represents 10–15% of total body weight in healthy humans. WAT secretes many peptides (adipokines), hormones and steroids involved in its homeostatic role, especially in carbohydrate–lipid metabolism regulation. Recently, adipocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (AdEVs) have been highlighted as important actors of intercellular communication that participate in metabolic responses to control energy flux and immune response. In this review, we focus on the role of AdEVs in the cross-talks between the different cellular types composing WAT with regard to their contribution to WAT homeostasis and metabolic complications development. We also discuss the AdEV cargoes (proteins, lipids, RNAs) which may explain AdEV’s biological effects and demonstrate that, in terms of proteins, AdEV has a very specific signature. Finally, we list and suggest potential therapeutic strategies to modulate AdEV release and composition in order to reduce their deleterious effects during the development of metabolic complications associated with obesity.     

西班牙卡蒙纳的巴特勒酒窟——个与乡土相关的生物气候学建筑

自20世纪90年代始,欧洲大陆的葡萄种植进入了结构调整期.卡蒙纳,一个西班牙的家庭式酒酿造企业,在这个倾向下迁离市中心的陈旧结构,修建了一座新的建筑体.在2001年第一期工程期间,建筑师达到了能量消耗减低和工作空间最优化的指标.在2008年的第二期工程规划期间,景观设计师苏阿茜·丹尔(嫒)(Soazig Darnay)对游人接待的逻辑和整座酒窟建筑及其生产活动与周边环境之融为一体进行了思考.项日建立在酒窟、田野和临近的山川和谐的概念上.