Balconies are an ancient architectural archetype that are being increasingly considered in multi-family buildings of high-density cities. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the impacts of balcony types on the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and energy consumption of dwellings. Of the reviewed studies, 69% were published during the last decade, making it evident that awareness of the positive impact of balcony spaces is continuously increasing. The literature review allowed us to identify three balcony spaces according to their morphology and their boundary system: open balcony (OB), glazed balcony (GB), and eliminate balcony (EB). It was concluded that these balcony types produce relevant impacts in four factors that contribute to the indoor environmental quality: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort. Practical design recommendations and constraints were provided according to distinct climatic conditions and building technologies. This review also explored the assessment methodologies used for the optimization of the balconies on the design process. The literature highlighted the lack of a comprehensive study about the impact of balconies in mild and Mediterranean climates, as well as the knowledge limitations concerning the balance between the impacts on IEQ factors.
The development of fruits and vegetables containing probiotics is a topic of great interest and popularity for health-conscious consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using dried fruit matrices as delivery vehicles for probiotics. Different fruits -kiwi, mango, strawberry, pineapple, banana -were used as food matrices to test the viability of a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, which was determined after drying at 40 o C and at different storage times. Cell survival after drying decreased by ca. 1 log in banana and strawberry, to 3 log, for kiwi. The bacterial numbers in banana and strawberry dried pieces at the time of storage at room temperature and 4 o C were approximately 10 7 cfu/g. After 37 days storage at room temperature, no viable counts were observed in any of the fruits studied. However after this period of time at 4 o C, viable cells were detected for all the fruits (1.9x106 cfu/g, 1.5x10 5 cfu/g, 1.5x10 5 cfu/g, 4.7x10 4 cfu/g, 8.0x10 3 cfu/g, for strawberry, banana, kiwi, mango and pineapple, respectively).
The consumption of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) has been associated to a lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases partly due to its content in polyphenols. The metabolites hydroxytyrosol sulfate and...
Throughout history, it has always been recognised that the spaces in-between in dwellings have the advantage of working as environmental buffer spaces. The aim of this paper is to provide a literature review of the different spaces in-between in dwellings – balconies, shaded balconies and glazed balconies - and their impacts on comfort and on energy performance. The effects of the spaces in-between depend on their design, on the characteristics of the buildings and on the surroundings. They have important impacts on the four factors that contribute to the indoor environmental quality: thermal comfort, lighting comfort, acoustic comfort and indoor air quality. These factors are interrelated and the lack of balance between them can lead to poor indoor environmental conditions and to excessive energy consumption. Based on the review, a synthesis of the key environmental parameters that can be used as indicators for those factors is established. The impacts of spaces in-between on the factors and sub-factors of indoor environment are defined, considering different climatic regions. A holistic approach that conciliates all the above-mentioned factors should be a contribution to the design of spaces in-between in both new construction and rehabilitation projects, in order to achieve better indoor environment with minimum energy consumption.
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