Based on this study, the use of tranexamic acid was statistically significant in reducing post-surgery blood loss.

This work aims to apply parametric design in order to minimize the embodied greenhouse gas emissions and operational energy in a zero emission building in Oslo, Norway. An original generative workflow based on parametric design was developed in the Grasshopper environment to conduct energy analyses such as solar radiation and daylighting, and environmental impact analysis, in order to evaluate the embodied and operational greenhouse gas emissions of the building. The workflow was generated in order to parametrically control several building features while varying the building shape, the dimensions of construction components and the quantity of materials. The process leads to the generation of shapes with the least environmental impact. The workflow allows the modification of the initial shape of the Base Case by running iterative simulations through the Galapagos and Octopus evolutionary solvers. For each stage of the shape's optimization, through passive and active strategies, the embodied emissions and energy balances were estimated in order to evaluate how the building design would vary in terms of energy and environmental impact and to identify the implications for the design. This paper shows how design options with low levels of embodied emissions can be generated and optimized automatically, and also demonstrates how a parametric design approach provides the designer with suggestions of low-impact solutions, which can then be integrated and considered early in, and throughout, the design process in a holistic manner.

The environmental impacts of sport events have been growing during the last decades, which has led to the organizing associations developing adequate countermeasures to both reduce carbon emissions due to construction and operational stages compensate for the emissions. This work aims at proposing an approach to stadiums energy enhancement that includes strategies largely recognized as effective and applicable to several building typologies (residential, commercial, academic, etc.). The selected case study is the Dacia Arena in northern Italy that has been recently refurbished and renovated. The proposed workflow has as a goal minimizing the increment of the operational emissions, caused by new heated areas in the stadium. Firstly, the energy consumption was estimated in dynamic state for Scenario 0 (current state) and Scenario 1 (refurbished state) to quantify the new plant’s energy demand. Secondly, two hypothetical system layouts were proposed and evaluated. In the first, the power for lighting, cooling and heating is supplied by a system that couples photovoltaic panels with heat pump. In the second, the same photovoltaic plant is integrated with a biomass plant and an absorption chiller. The comparison highlights the suitability of those interventions and the environmental advantages deriving from their exploitation.

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This work presents the preliminary stages of a wider study aiming at assessing the potentials of retro-reflective (RR) materials to mitigate urban heat island effects. Th study herewith reported is based on an inverse approach, which originates from the evaluation of the solar irradiation incident on urban surfaces (i.e. façade, roof, and paving) and leads to the identification of the optimal angular properties required to activate such a material. The solar radiation geometry and the solar irradiation collected by the south-exposed vertical and the horizontal surfaces, were assessed by solar dynamic simulation tools. Furthermore, the angular distribution of the solar direct irradiation component and the direct to global solar irradiation ratio were estimated. The analyses were carried out for nine locations between Oulu (Finland) and Doha (Qatar), with an increment of 5° latitude between two locations.The results demonstrate that the application of RR materials to horizontal surfaces can always be effective, whereas when applied on the vertical surface, the solar geometry influences to a much greater extent the performance of these materials. The main findings of this study show that the selective angular properties of an ideal RR material should be in the angular interval between 25° and 55° and between 30° and 90°, in case of vertical surfaces and horizontal surfaces, respectively. Best practices related to the application of RR materials and the activation of their selective angular properties in different climate zones are also reported.

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A synthetic review of the application of multi-objective optimization models to the design of climate-responsive buildings and neighbourhoods is carried out. The review focused on the software utilized during both simulation and optimization stages, as well as on the objective functions and the design variables. The hereby work aims at identifying knowledge gaps and future trends in the research field of automation in the design of buildings. Around 140 scientific journal articles, published between 2014 and 2021, were selected from Scopus and Web of Science databases. A three-step selection process was applied to refine the search terms and to discard works investigating mechanical, structural, and seismic topics. Meta-analysis of the results highlighted that multi-objective optimization models are widely exploited for (i) enhancing building’s energy efficiency, (ii) improving thermal and (iii) visual comfort, minimizing (iv) life-cycle costs, and (v) emissions. Reviewed workflows demonstrated to be suitable for exploring different design alternatives for building envelope, systems layout, and occupancy patterns. Nonetheless, there are still some aspects that need to be further enhanced to fully enable their potential such as the ability to operate at multiple temporal and spatial scales and the possibility of exploring strategies based on sector coupling to improve a building’s energy efficiency.

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