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Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) is the principal vector for several diseases and despite having synthetic repellents to curb its feeding and transmission, they pose a threat to humans upon chronic use. Therefore, this study explores natural alternative thymol, via both structural and molecular binding properties against whole proteome targets of A. using a multi-target approach. Properties of thymol were studied using ProTox-II to determine the toxicity class. A preliminary screening of the proteome of A. aegypti was performed using existing microarray data analysis, conserved domain studies and protein modelling to narrow down the target categories. RaptorX standalone high-computing server was utilised for 309 protein structure modelling. Molecular docking was performed for 20 shortlisted protein categories against thymol, and top three docked complexes were simulated at 100 ns. Results showed that thymol belonged to class 4 low-toxicity, and molecular docking and 100 ns simulations in dynamic environment revealed stable complexes of thymol with glutathione-S-transferase (GST), octopamine receptor and glutamate-gated chloride channels (GGCC). Free energy binding via molecular mechanics revealed thymol with GST and GGCC to be stable. Our multi-target study presents insights into the molecular binding events that take place when thymol binds to newly identified A. aegypti targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the effect of demand response (DR) on power and energy flexibilities with three types of district heated buildings (apartment building, cultural center, and office building) in Finland and Germany. A rule-based control algorithm was applied for the DR control with two country-specific dynamic district heating (DH) prices, the more fluctuating Finnish synthetic DH price and the flatter German synthetic DH price. This research was implemented with the validated dynamic building simulation tool IDA ICE. Set-point smoothing of the indoor air temperature was applied to minimize the rebound effect. Nighttime set-back was adopted in the cultural center and the office building. The results show that the DR control without smoothing creates additional peaks in power demand, while the set-point smoothing significantly decreases the peak power demand. The DR control can significantly shape the heating power demand of the buildings and increase energy flexibility. The range of the resultant seasonal energy flexibility factors is from 3 to 26% for charging and from −6 to −31% for discharging, depending on the building types and countries. Cases with nighttime set-back have higher power and energy flexibilities, while this causes additional peaks, which is detrimental to DH systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the influence of glazing characteristics and shading device configuration on energy use and cost, daylighting performance and visual comfort. A typical patient room from a hospital design in Belgium is used as a baseline scenario and different window design alternatives are explored through parametric modeling. Based on the comparative analysis, the article discusses potential design options that allow for energy efficient and daylit patient rooms with higher visual comfort. The methodology combines dynamic energy simulations, daylighting and glare analysis. The results show that glazing characteristics and shading device configuration have a major impact on energy use/cost, daylighting and visual comfort and to achieve an overall good performance, selecting the right window configuration is essential. The findings indicate that pairing windows with suitable louvers configuration leads to a 40–80% reduction in cooling loads while maintaining sufficient daylighting levels (sDA300/50%>55) and reducing the UDI>3000lux values ca. 70%. The results suggest that the ASE metric may not provide a realistic picture regarding glare probability when we are aiming at controlling glare in specific locations within the room. This study emphasizes the need for integrated performance analysis in order to obtain a correct insight into the window systems performance. The proposed integrated approach can hence support design decisions regarding the most preferred window system to better fulfill the project objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this work are to determine the maximum efficiency in the generation and conversion of energy to electricity, and to obtain the exergy efficiency in a pebblebBed modular reactor. The dynamics of the process of energy generation in the nuclear fuel is represented by a point reactor kinetics model, and the process of transport of this energy toward the coolant fluid was based on the conservation laws of mass, energy, and momentum. The conversion to mechanical energy in the turbo-generators, as well as the operation of the heat exchangers, was also made on the simplified models based on physical laws. The results obtained of the energy and exergy balances were applied in order to calculate the maximum efficiency considering a change in the original design and the utilization of the energy lost in the cooling process, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to switch from a deterministic approach of building energy simulation toward a probabilistic one that takes into account the occupants’ interactions with the building controls. A probabilistic approach is proposed and applied to simulate occupant behavior realistically. The methodology was based on probabilistic evaluation of both input and output variables of building energy simulations. The developed methodology can be applied in all aspects of occupant's interactions with building controls, such as window openings, shading devices, etc., to achieve more realistic predictions of energy consumption. The aim was to compare the obtained results with a traditional deterministic use of the simulation program. Based on heating set-point behavior of 13 Danish dwellings, logistic regression was used to infer the probability of adjusting the set-point of thermostatic radiator valves. Three different models of occupant's interactions with heating controls were obtained and implemented in a building simulation tool. The models of occupant's behavior patterns were used to investigate how different behavior patterns influence indoor climate quality and energy consumption. Simulation results were given as probability distributions of energy consumption and indoor environmental quality depending on occupant's behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article compares the performance of geothermal absorption and compression heat pump systems for space conditioning. The comparison is performed on an R-2000 residence for three Canadian locations representing three different climates and energy contexts: Montréal, Edmonton and Vancouver. The analysis is based on simulations carried out using TRNSYS. Results indicate that the required length of the geothermal heat exchanger is significantly different for the two types of heat pumps (compression and absorption). In Edmonton, geothermal absorption heat pump systems have a lower life-cycle cost and emit fewer greenhouse gases than geothermal compression heat pump system. In Montréal, both systems have similar life-cycle costs. Since electricity is mainly hydro-based the greenhouse gas emissions are much lower for the compression system. In Vancouver, the compression system has both lower life-cycle costs and lower greenhouse gases emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]