362 research outputs found
Towards Sustainability in Buildings: An User-Friendly Method to Select Building Components and Services and to Assess their Performances
No full textWith reference to the sustainability of buildings and building stock, the paper introduces an innovative user-friendly
procedure to support designers in assessing building components and services, fulfilling specific performance
requirements.
Such a procedure has been developed by the Authors within a research program sponsored by the Region of
Lombardy and coordinated by the Milan Polytechnic Foundation together with CIS-E-Milan.
It is intended to be applied to newly designed and to existing buildings as well and it uses the following indicators as a
support: (1) technological/technical quality; (2) environmental sustainability; (3) energy performance; (4) engineering
design; (5) operational quality.
In addition, the benefit-cost ratio has been explored by the mean of the so-called Profit Index
Production of chocolate powdered beverage with enhanced instant properties
No full textInstant properties of chocolate powder such as solubility and dispersibility are important factors for the quality and consequently consumer acceptance of the final powdered beverage. With the aim of producing a novel powdered chocolate beverage with enhanced instant solubility, we studied the effect of spray drying process on the components of the chocolate powder. Spray drying of chocolate beverage formulation (complete recipe provided and protected by Domori s.r.l., Italy) was performed using a mixture of cocoa powder and sucrose 30:70 (w/w). Liquid feed was prepared by dissolving 17.5 g of powder in 100 mL of deionized water at 60 °C and mixed until complete homogenization. The solution was fed to a mini spray dryer B-290 (Büchi, Huddersfield, UK). In this work an inlet temperature of 150 °C was used. Maltodextrin concentration (0, 3.5 and 7 % w/w) and drying air flow rate (22, 27 and 32 m3/h) were varied. Powders were stored at 4 °C in closed dark vessels before analysis. The results of full factorial design showed that operating at a drying air flow rate of 27 m3/h and a maltodextrin concentration of 3.5 % w/w, powder with solubility of 74.2 ± 6.8% and dispersibility of 58.7 ± 2.9% was achieved. At this operative condition, powder recovery yield was almost consistent with the industrial one (45.5 ± 2.5%). Therefore, spray drying presents a useful way to produce chocolate powder with better instant solubility, which can also be dissolved in less amount of water (70 mL instead of 120 mL)
Sistema di aggancio per collegare elettricamente un dispositivo elettronico con un sensore tessile
No full textÈ descritto un sistema di aggancio in continuità elettrica con elettrodi tessili, detto sistemadiagganciocomprendendo:-una scocca contenitiva comprendente una sede adatta a ricevere un dispositivo elettronico ed almeno un connettore metallico; in cui il connettore metallico comprende: - una parte superiore avente una conformazione sostanzialmente allungata ed estendentisi attraverso il fondo della sede, detta parte superiore essendo adatta a collegarsi elettricamente con detto dispositivo elettronico;- una parte centrale sostanzialmente piatta ed impegnata ad una estremità di detta parte superiore, detta parte centrale essendo adatta a bloccare meccanicamente il connettore metallico tra un tessuto e la scocca contenitiva;- una parte inferiore comprendente una pluralità di elementi cilindrici, in cui ciascun elemento cilindrico si estende, da detta parte centrale, in direzione opposta rispetto a detta parte superiore; in cui ciascun elemento cilindrico è configurato per penetrare in un sensore tessile formando una connessione sia elettrica sia meccanica
Convenience in Funding Upgrading Works
No full textWith reference to upgrading actions on existing building stock, Construction Procurement Guidance, No.7 Whole Life Costs (Office of Government Commerce) states: ‘All procurement must be made solely on the basis of value for money in terms of the optimum combination of global costs and quality to meet the user’s requirements’. Cash-flow analyses allow showing the economic value of investments for alternative technological upgrading works extended all along their service lives. Optimisation of choices is not only a matter of cash-flow analyses—choices should not be made only according to the lowest costs but also considering several aspects that can be brought back to the concept of ‘technical-sustainable value’, which mainly derives from competent functional and environmental assessments of the reference analysis system. The mentioned interrelation should theoretically be adequately considered but this is seldom the case in the common building practice. Cost estimate for an engineered system has to entail much more detailed analyses on costs, energy, sustainability and technologies. Possible technological solutions would be convenient in terms of technological/technical utility, but less convenient in monetary terms for the funding subject. Under the economic point of view, cash outflow means less economic convenience in funding a given technology. All that stated above, nowadays effective data-display global cost-quality indicators are rarely available in literature. The present manuscript introduces to the reader fundamentals of an economic tool proposal designed by the author with the use of synthetically displaying interrelations between cash-flow scenarios and quality-sustainability in upgrading processes on existing buildings. Fundamentals have been tested on a reference case study. Then, fundamentals have been contextualized to the Italian Legislative framework: in Italy, in multi-owner existing residential buildings, expenditure allocation is carried out based on thousandths. The thousandth type to be considered is due to the configuration of the case under review and to balance-sheet expenditure to be allocated to owners. Property thousandths allocated to housing units have been used to allocate expenses for technological/energy upgrading works. The author has tried to find out the amount of a possible bank investment that a user might start at building Time ‘0’ to theoretically clear possible economic losses, trying to highlight technical utility of the technological solution that would be disadvantaged in economic terms. ‘Neutral’ mathematical finance formulas have been used to calculate the theoretical capital to be invested by an owner based on the reference cash-flow scenario. Conclusion will be drawn at the end of the manuscript
Recupero edilizio e nuova costruzione. Non solo risparmio energetico. Importanza della valutazione della fattibilità applicativa a monte della modellazione energetica
No full textThe expressions ‘low environmental impact’ and ‘energy efficiency’ mean much more than ‘compliance to regulation and technical specifications’ (89/106/ EEC, article 4).
Nowadays, solutions implemented in actions on buildings at least have to comply with regulatory values or parameters with reference to a specific time outlook. This is due to policies and guidelines issued at several levels, starting from the European one to get to the local one, promoting: for new buildings, reviews of design processes so as to create sustainable buildings providing for high-quality housing, for existing buildings, reviews on as-built assets so as to limit energy consumption.
Designers selecting potentially applicable ‘sustainable’ technologies should not only assess their profiles in terms of energy and performance which, of course, are essential.
Together with the abovementioned issues, in addition to convenience, critical points and viability constraints should be reasonably taken into account during the selection process.
For this purpose, some ideas are introduced in form of a journalistic discourse, which, according to the author, can be useful to those designers who have to select from different ranges of viable technological solutions, both based on traditional building practices and on new or emerging practices
Mitogenomes from Two Uncommon Haplogroups Mark Late Glacial/Postglacial Expansions from the Near East and Neolithic Dispersals within Europe
No full textThe current human mitochondrial (mtDNA) phylogeny does not equally represent all human populations but is biased in favour of representatives originally from north and central Europe. This especially affects the phylogeny of some uncommon West Eurasian haplogroups, including I and W, whose southern European and Near Eastern components are very poorly represented, suggesting that extensive hidden phylogenetic substructure remains to be uncovered. This study expanded and re-analysed the available datasets of I and W complete mtDNA genomes, reaching a comprehensive 419 mitogenomes, and searched for precise correlations between the ages and geographical distributions of their numerous newly identified subclades with events of human dispersal which contributed to the genetic formation of modern Europeans. Our results showed that haplogroups I (within N1a1b) and W originated in the Near East during the Last Glacial Maximum or pre-warming period (the period of gradual warming between the end of the LGM, ~19 ky ago, and the beginning of the first main warming phase, ~15 ky ago) and, like the much more common haplogroups J and T, may have been involved in Late Glacial expansions starting from the Near East. Thus our data contribute to a better definition of the Late and postglacial re-peopling of Europe, providing further evidence for the scenario that major population expansions started after the Last Glacial Maximum but before Neolithic times, but also evidencing traces of diffusion events in several I and W subclades dating to the European Neolithic and restricted to Europe
The benefits of supply chain finance: a value assessment model
No full textThis paper proposes a value assessment model for supply chain finance solutions. Grounding on the critical analysis of extant scientific literature and on empirical evidence from a triadic case study (buyer, supplier, financial provider), the model highlights: (1) benefit items clustered into four performance categories (financial, economic, intangible, operational); (2) benefit partition and relative magnitude between the buyer and the supplier company; (3) contextual drivers affecting the presence/relevance of benefits perceived, addressing both company specific and relationship specific variables
Does finance solve the supply chain financing problem?
No full textPurpose: Recently, in response to the credit crunch and the increased costs of financing, new solutions for supporting the financial management of supply chains, known as supply chain finance (SCF), have been developed. They exploit the strengths of supply chain links to optimise working capital. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference framework that links together the objectives leading to the adoption of SCF solutions and several moderating variables. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a multiple case study methodology, analysing 14 cases of the application of SCF solutions among Italian companies. Findings: The main findings are the identification of the different objectives leading to the adoption of SCF; the analysis of the impact of moderating variables (the level of inter- and intra-firm collaboration, the level of the trade process digitalisation and the bargaining power and financial strength of the leading firm) on SCF adoption; and the formulation of a reference framework supporting the effective adoption of SCF solutions. Research limitations/implications: This contribution is exploratory in nature; theory-testing contributions should be the focus of further research. Also, the sample is limited to Italian companies. Finally, the service provider’s point of view has been marginally taken into consideration in this study. Originality/value: The article addresses the need for more empirical research on SCF. It provides a reference framework focused on the objectives and moderating variables leading to effective SCF adoption, providing a theory-building contribution on the general topic of SCF and on the specific topic of the adoption process of different SCF solutions
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