Major Renovation Research Articles

Delftia acidovorans pseudo outbreak in portable reverse osmosis machines: Interventions to ensure safe and cost-effective hemodialysis

Reverse osmosis (RO), a major advance in hemodialysis (HD) safety, effectively clears most water organisms. Delftia acidovorans is an environmental water-borne pathogen that is rarely reported to cause human infections. We report a pseudo outbreak caused by colonization of RO machines with D acidovorans with no reported human infections and interventions to improve HD safety. Repeated positive RO product water cultures triggered our hospital to initiate an investigation, RO machines were examined for mechanical integrity by biomedical engineers. Cultures of product water as well as RO parts were done. Testing for bacterial relatedness after identification was performed. An investigation was conducted in a systematic fashion to determine the cause and the extent of the problem. Upon formal review of policies and procedures, there were minor deficiencies. Rectifying these deviations from policies did not stop the repeated positive water cultures. A 7-step investigation and correction was successfully conducted. City water testing with filtration and concentration methods was positive for D acidovorans. Major renovation of the HD unit with replacement of all RO machines and a 2-step water filtration resulted in elimination of the pseudo outbreak. City water was the source of biofilm formation of D acidovorans in RO machines that was not possible to eradicate. Application of incoming water filters was an effective preventive strategy. Replacement of RO machines after 4 failed disinfection attempts is the most cost-effective strategy as well for persistent positive water cultures. The HD remains RO water culture negative 2 years after changes.

Major renovations of apartment complexes: Russian people’s projective attitudes and behavior practices

This article analyzes the Russian people’s projective attitudes and behavior practices when it comes to participating in the funding and organizing of major renovations of apartment buildings. The empirical base for the study consists of data from sociological surveys conducted by VCIOM (2015-2020), the Institute of Sociology of the RAS (2003-2019), FOM (2015), Levada Center (2019), The European Social Survey (2016, 2018), as well as the authors’ own expert interviews conducted in 2020. The need to ensure the safety of housing, the complexity and high cost of renovations is a reasonable explanation for government interference in this sector. Russia’s housing legislature assigns responsibility for maintaining and renovating common property to apartment owners, while also stipulating a funding procedure for major renovations based on deposits made by property owners. The system currently in place in Russia for funding and organizing major renovations, which implies the existence of both a “common reserve” and “special accounts” for regulated property owner contributions (that resemble a tax), is far from perfect, it being associated with such issues as a lack of funding, low quality of major renovations, susceptibility to corruption, owners having insufficient control when it comes to decision making. While analyzing material from all-Russian and regional empirical studies, the gap becomes evident between projective attitudes and the actual behavior of Russian people in the realm of major renovations. Despite a marked critical attitude when it comes to evaluating utility service quality, not to mention the “common reserve” model (which is a way of pulling together funds for major renovations and keeping them on the regional operator’s account) being regarded as socially unjust, nevertheless property owners demonstrate a low degree of civic self-organization and meager capability when it comes to taking collective action (as in participating in apartment complex meetings to discuss major renovations, creating and transferring money to dedicated accounts, keeping track of the major renovation process etc.). The reasons why property owners are so slow to develop any efficiency largely lie in the specifics of the institutional collective decision-making environment in regards to the funding and execution of local public property renovation, which also includes major renovations of apartment buildings.

The Re-opening of the Saitama Prefectual Archives After a Major Building Renovation

The Re-opening of the Saitama Prefectual Archives After a Major Building Renovation

Development of prefabricated insulation elements for buildings with aerated autoclaved concrete walls

An extensive need for the refurbishment and renewal of existing building stock has been the focus of consideration for many decades, principally because of the high global energy consumption and pollution levels. This paper presents the results of the analysis of certain sets of timber frame prefabricated insulation elements for the major renovation of an apartment building. The hygrothermal measurements were taken, and a series of combinations with elements were analysed using building performance simulation software to compare the main hygrothermal properties. The critical initial moisture content for the surface section of the aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) panel is w = 65 kg/m3 at a depth of 15 mm and w = 39 kg/m3 at a depth of 70 mm. The results showed that before the design and installation of insulation elements, thorough hygrothermal analysis of the original external envelope, with actual climatic conditions and moisture loads, must be realized.

ПЕТРОГРАФИЧЕСКАЯ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА МАТЕРИАЛОВ ОТДЕЛКИ ЗДАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРНОГО НАСЛЕДИЯ Г. СЕВАСТОПОЛЯ ПОСЛЕВОЕННОЙ ПОСТРОЙКИ 40 – 50-Х ГОДОВ ХХ ВЕКА

This article is devoted to the identification of materials and the study of the composition of mortars used in the decoration of the facades of residential buildings that are cultural heritage objects and identified cultural heritage objects to be restored according to a major renovation plan, st. Bolshaya Morskaya and pl. Lazarev in the city of Sevastopol.

Nearly zero energy renovation concepts for apartment buildings

Revised EPBD directive has set ambitious targets for renovation. It is stated that Member States shall establish a long-term strategy facilitating the cost-effective transformation of existing buildings into nearly-zero energy buildings. The long-term strategy should set out a roadmap with a view to the long-term 2050 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. This creates the need for cost-efficient renovation solutions which can be implemented in large scale. The impact assessment shows that roughly a doubled renovation rate of 3 % would be needed to accomplish the energy efficiency ambitions in a cost-effective manner. The objective of this study is to specify renovation concepts with adequate heating and ventilation, based on Estonian and German apartment buildings and corresponding local solutions. Energy performance and sizing analyses were conducted for selected multifamily apartment buildings typical for 1960-70es with three different renovation concepts. Energy calculations were conducted with national energy calculation methods and national energy requirements for major renovation. In the renovation, the building envelope insulation, air tightness, and heating and ventilation systems were improved so that the renovated building complies with national nearly zero-energy requirement for major renovation.

Stakeholder Legitimization of the Provision of Emergency Centralized Accommodations to Displaced Persons

Sudden population influxes into cities—such as those seen during post-disaster migration—place unexpected demands on the urban housing system. Decisions made during these influxes are often controversial, potentially hindering the ability of the organizations involved to respond. This study’s objective was to explore strategies (e.g., types of information shared and types of accommodation chosen) that can be used during decision-making processes when providing emergency accommodations to increase stakeholder acceptance, and thus lead to sustainable institutional responses. This study specifically sought to shed light on how, during the Refugee Crisis in Germany of 2015 and 2016, stakeholders legitimized decisions made to provide centralized emergency accommodations to displaced persons. Making this study possible were 25 semi-structured interviews with utility, government, nonprofit, and company employees involved in the provision of centralized accommodations for displaced persons. Interviews were conducted in 2016 and underwent a qualitative analysis. Results indicate that stakeholders primarily legitimized the provision of centralized accommodations based on convictions of right and wrong (moral legitimacy), while they legitimized decisions to not provide such accommodations based on their understanding and experience of practical barriers (cultural-cognitive legitimacy). Recommendations arising from this study include the following: provide information to stakeholders about accommodations’ livability (to gain consequential legitimacy) and past successes (to gain comprehensibility legitimacy), adapt regulations to help stakeholders use procedural legitimacy, and prefer fully renovated buildings or modular housing to buildings with no major renovations or container housing (to gain consequential rather than procedural legitimacy).

The latest reforms and achievements of Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Education and Sport in the development of Azerbaijan Sport

This article aims to explore the role and significance of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports in the development and progress of the country's sport in recent years. In particular, it will demonstrate how recent changes at the academy have made a positive impact on sport education in Azerbaijan, as well as on the future potential of the academy's students. Major renovation work at the Academy, changes in the educational process, new programmes and collaboration with interna- tional experts have all played their part in boosting the academy' s development prospects. The organisation of consistent and continuous activities, process regulation, the emergence of new experts and educational systems are reflected by remarkable progress at the academy. This article also highlights the numerous achievements of academy students over the past few years, driven by the dedicated and self-esteem of the graduates, founded on the values of the academy. At the same time, the reorganisation and investment at the academy, and the planned outcomes that are now becoming reality, illustrate the government's commitment to making Azerbaijan a global sporting capital.

Liturgical renovation of modern churches in Rome (Italy)

At the beginning of the first half of the twentieth century the bond between ars-venustas and cultus-pietas has produced many churches of Roman Catholic cult.It’s between the 20s and 60s of the twentieth century that the experiments of the Liturgical Movement in Germany lead to the evolution of the liturgical space, which, even today, we see engraving in modern churches in Rome (Italy).The Council of Trent (1545-1563) constitutes the precedent historical moment, in which the Church recognised the need for major liturgical renovation of its churches. In comparison with this, the Second Vatican Council (1959-65) introduced some radical changes within the church architectural spaces.The observations come from the direct reading of the present architectural space and the interventions already realised in modern churches in Rome. The most significant churches from an historical-artistic point of view were selected (1924-1965). Significantly, although every single architecture is unique for dimensions, architectural language and used materials, a comparison, in order to gather the discovered characteristics and to compare the restrictions regarding the different operations, would extremely effective, as demonstrated below.Since the matter is considerably vast, in this work, only some brief notes regarding the liturgical renovation of the Presbytery area will be outlined.

Investigation of Fogging on Glass Display Cases at the Royal Ontario Museum

ABSTRACTShortly after a major renovation at the Royal Ontario Museum, it was noticed that the glass panels in many of the new display cases exhibited fogging or hazing on the surface, sometimes in very specific patterns. Cleaning removed the fogging temporarily, but it began to reappear within 12 months. An investigation of fogged glass panels in display cases was undertaken to understand the source of the fogging and to develop an appropriate cleaning method. This included the analysis of residues from glass panels in several galleries, and surface imaging and compositional analysis of glass panels. The fogging residues on the glass panels consist mainly of sodium salts of organic acids and inorganic anions. Sources of the sodium in the residues include air particulate matter and the glass itself. The organic acids and inorganic anions that form salts with the sodium cations likely originate from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter in the air. Examination of the fogging patterns on the glass panels revealed that the sodium salts grow on marks made during cleaning attempts and the manufacturing process. These cleaning and manufacturing marks contain greasy residues that encourage crystal growth. Because of the variation in surface cleanliness, panels with more cleaning and manufacturing residues appear to be heavily fogged while those with less may appear to be unfogged in the museum display cases. A cleaning protocol was tested on two of the glass panels, and was found to remove all traces of grease and fogging residue.

Curtis Institute of Music—Organ studio renovation

Inspection of former percussion studios in the Curtis mansion basement revealed a warren of four small rooms more like dungeon cells than a future organ studio. Acoustic tile ceilings hid a hodge-podge of noisy air-handling equipment, plus a hundred-year accumulation of pipes, conduit and cables. The client’s initial plans for a “paint and carpet” refresh quickly evolved into a major renovation, with a particular design challenge presented by three massive brick piers dividing the studio into four distinct spaces. The largest room became the teaching studio with organ console, a middle room the organ chamber, an internal corridor serves as a sound expansion space for the chamber, and the smallest room holds noisy mechanical equipment and organ blower. Sound isolation ceilings prevent “noise” from traveling up to meeting and reception space above. A lower, finished studio ceiling hides building infrastructure from view, and also functions as a sound distribution space connecting organ chamber to grilles beside and behind the console. Walls have diffuser panels to scatter sound and mid/low-frequency absorber panels to prevent boominess and excessive loudness. The small studio sounds much larger than its actual size, with a pleasant sense of spaciousness and envelopment for organist and listeners.

Master plan for Vietnam’s higher education system - the status of education planning at Vietnam National University

Master plan of Higher education (HE) plays an important role which should be based on the model of university governance in each country. Vietnam has undergone a major renovation of higher education since 2009. Reorganizing and rearranging the system of universities and colleges is one of the solutions for the development of higher education. The status of training plan has changed in line with the international trends. This paper analyzes the policy of curriculum development of undergraduate, master and doctoral training fields promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training and by Vietnam National University (VNU). The national university model has been given a high level of autonomy in the curriculum development. VNU develops cutting-edge scientific disciplines, adjusting training programs to meet the diverse and increasingly demands of domestic and international labor markets

Trabajos previos y paralelos integrados en el proyecto de restauración de la capilla de los Tocino (s. XV) en la iglesia de San Juan de los Caballeros de Jerez de la Frontera

Consecuencia de una profunda reforma decimonónica inacabada, la capilla de los Tocino había perdido su uso y relación espacial original con el ábside de la iglesia de San Juan de los Caballeros de Jerez de la Frontera al que se adosa. La degradación que sufrió la capilla desde ese momento fue enorme. La interpretación de sus lesiones estaba muy condicionada por el devenir del mismo, siendo necesaria una serie de trabajos previos y paralelos a la intervención para reconocer esta complejidad y determinar los valores patrimoniales sobre los que fundamentar el proyecto. Se planteó así una estrategia de acciones de investigación cuyo alcance debía ser proporcional a los recursos económicos disponibles y los enfoques analíticos que pretendíamos integrar. Entre ellas se programó una intervención arqueológica que incorporaba el análisis del subsuelo y estudio paramental. Se expondrá el resultado de un trabajo integrado que se prolongó hasta finalizar su consolidación material, espacial y funcional.

Comparative whole-building life cycle assessment of renovation and new construction

Renovation of existing buildings has been identified as a major strategy for reducing the environmental impacts associated with building construction. From the perspective of embodied impacts, repurposing existing structures can reduce the amount of new materials that have to be extracted, manufactured, and installed. While the literature on energy efficiency retrofitting is relatively abundant, a smaller number of studies investigate the differences in whole-building embodied impacts of major renovations. This study presents an approach for conducting a whole-building life cycle assessment (LCA) on building renovation projects, suggests an approach for conducting comparative assessments between renovation and new construction, and demonstrates the approach on an adaptive reuse case study. The approach consists of comparing the full life cycle impacts of the existing building to the sum of the life cycle impacts of the components added in the renovation and the maintenance and replacement needs of the existing/reused components. The case study showed 53–75% reductions across 6 different environmental impact categories when the renovation was compared to a new construction scenario. The reuse of the structural and envelope components provided the majority of the reductions, as most of the renovation was of the interior components and finishes. The presented work can be used as a model for consistent LCAs on other renovation projects and to show designers, policy makers, and building owners the environmental benefits of adaptive reuse over new construction as a result of reduced need for new building materials.

Energy and environmental performance of the office building facade scenarios

Energy efficiency is one of the main requirements that buildings must satisfy nowadays, both when designing new buildings or when major renovation takes place. The main issues that need to be considered in designing energy efficient buildings are: reduction of energy consumption generated from fossil fuels and reduction of environment pollution. Building envelope is the most responsible architectural element of the building that impacts thermal comfort and energy balance. Besides thermal properties of the envelope, equipment for heating, cooling and lighting influence largely on energy consumption in buildings. From the design point of view, the analysis of various facade scenarios, in terms of their contribution to reducing energy consumption, is crucial and necessary for each specific case and climate. This paper presents the estimation of energy performances of different scenarios of the hypothetical models of façade design, in case of an office building in Belgrade climate conditions. For the analysis, the model of the typical office was created and three various facade concepts were applied. Methodological approach entails three steps: design of different facade concepts - models, numerical energy simulations of the models and comparison of the results. For each of the three shading concepts, the following scenarios have been created: the basic scenario without shadings, and three scenarios of different facade design solutions related to types of shading devices. Assessment of the scenarios includes consideration of energy demands for heating and cooling, reduction of energy consumption for cooling by implementation of different shading devices and comparison of the results. The results of the simulations show how much the various alternatives of shadings contribute to the reduction of total energy demands, and how much the application of shadings affects the reduction of environmental pollution. The design method, as well as the results, can generally be applicable for the design of new and renovation of existing office buildings, both in Belgrade and in places with similar climatic conditions.

An analysis of energy saving through delamping method

Electrical energy consumption is one of the focus areas in Green and Sustainable technology in the 21st century. Many energy consultants offers services to reduce the electricity consumption to the commercial consumer. Many proposals are focusing on selling their energy management system product which cost a lot of initial investment. The problem of applying energy management system is that the building needs major renovation. In this paper, electricity consumption is reduced through delamping method. The delamping is strategizing based on energy efficiency audit. This technique complies with the ASHRAE international standard for office building. The number of light reduced and electricity consumption from this exercise can translate into reduction of maintenance and electricity bill. The comparison of payback period for various energy saving techniques were discussed as well.

‘Green’ obligations regarding new constructions and their impact on the real-estate market

Abstract The fight for reducing green gas emissions and energy dependency requires the application of additional obligations for new constructions. From this perspective, starting from the 31st of December 2020 building permits for new constructions in the private sector shall be issued only if their energy consume is close to zero. Additionally, the recovery level of non-dangerous waste resulting from construction and demolition activities must reach until the 31st of December 2020 a percentage of minimum 70%. Also, with respect to residential and non-residential buildings, new and also buildings undergoing major renovation, the real-estate developers must take into consideration the obligations regarding the instalment of electrical recharging points for electrical vehicles. These additional obligations will have a direct impact upon the construction price and will certainly influence the real-estate market.

Improving Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities: A Review of Minor Refurbishment Elements

The objective of this study is to identify elements pertaining to minor refurbishments of residential aged care facilities. A narrative review of relevant publications was conducted. Inductive content analysis was used to categorize coded data into major or minor refurbishment or staff practices. Further analysis identified minor refurbishment domains. There were 14 major refurbishment, seven minor refurbishment and two staff practices domains established. The minor refurbishment elements (n = 7) identified were lighting, furniture, color and contrast, wayfinding, noise, signage, and flooring. Assessing these elements would assist residential aged care providers to prioritize the provision of minor improvements to the environment for residents.

LEED-NC 2009 SILVER TO GOLD CERTIFIED PROJECTS IN THE US IN 2012–2017: AN APPROPRIATE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate the Silver-to-Gold LEED-NC 2009 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction and Major Renovations) cross-certification performance and categorize the cross-certification performance in eight US states in 2012–2017. The following three statistical analyses were used: (a) pooling LEED projects within a single state and single year in a single-state-year group with the subsequent use of a replication method, (b) pooling the medians of the LEED projects in each state from all years in a state-and-total-years group, and (c) pooling the LEED projects from all states and years in a total states-and-years group. The Silver-to-Gold cross-certification performance has a low propelling effect. Considering the Silver-to-Gold category cross-certification performances, the Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category has a high propelling effect, the Sustainable Sites (SS) and Environmental Quality (EQ) categories have moderate propelling effects, the Water Efficiency (WE), Materials and Resources (MR), and Innovation in Design (ID) categories have low propelling effects. Six of the eight states used an EA-high emphasized strategy, and two of the eight states used a SS/EA/WE/EQ/ID-moderate emphasized strategy. The single-state-year group and state-and-total-years group analyses are more robust than the pooling LEED projects using the total state-and-year group analysis.

Non-conventional textile structures with technical destination, designed and developed at S.C. Cora Trading & Service S.R.L.

Wool fibers are a natural, renewable, sustainable, low impact on the environment, with huge potential for humanity. Given the exponential growth of the Earth’s population, raw materials are getting less and less, a business based on the processing of renewable raw materials, especially wool fibers, has a high chance of survival and development. Romania, with an overwhelming agrarian economy, has a population of nearly 10 million sheep and a production of over 16,000 tons of medium and coarse wool. Given the need to set minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings and for the major renovation of existing ones at European Union level, the development of new materials and technologies is necessary, so that the opportunity to capitalize on wool for buildings be a workable item on long term. This paper presents the experimental results of the characteristics of 4 non-conventional textile structures (UTS) made of 100% wool fibers, designed and developed at S.C. Cora Trading & Service SRL, on their existing adapted technology. The fibrous blend used, consisting of both tanning wool and coarse shared wool allow development of innovative structures, with potential of use for their thermal insulation capacity and great potential of sustainable development of the manufacturer.