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Building construction accounts for 40% of the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The drastic increase in the energy costs of building materials has drawn attention to earth materials, such as rammed earth. In this study, the hygrothermal properties of rammed earth in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China were measured and compared with results from previous studies. To analyze the hygrothermal performance of a rammed earth wall, a numerical model was established and verified. The coupled heat and moisture transfer in the area of the common rammed earth wall and the moisture barrier wall was simulated with different indoor conditions, orientations, and thicknesses. The numerical results were observed to be consistent with the experimental data. In contrast to results from other studies, the earthen material analyzed in this study exhibits less vapor transfer, but better thermal stability and moisture buffering. The moisture barrier increases the average moisture content of the rammed earth wall, but reduces the maximum moisture content, thereby protecting the wall. The moisture barrier probably also reduces the moisture buffering capacity of the wall. The moisture barrier has no significant effect on heat transfer; even a west-facing wall reduces heat loss by only 3% in this area. • The studied earthen material has lower diffusivity and higher effusivity. • The moisture barrier results in a maximum reduction in moisture transfer of 35%. • The increase of moisture transfer reduces the heat loss of the wall for the whole year. • The moisture barrier will be more effective used on rammed earth wall facing west. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goose astroviruses (GAstVs) are important pathogens which can cause gout in goslings leading to huge economic losses for the goose farming industry in China. In 2023, an infectious disease characterized by visceral gout broke out in commercial goose farms in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces of China. In this study, two GAstV strains of GXNN and GDCS were successfully isolated from these two disease-ridden goose farms. The complete genomic lengths of these two strains were 7166 bp, and phylogenetic analysis showed that they were both GAstV-2 subtypes. The 3-dimensional structures of the capsid protein were predicted and six characteristic mutation sites at amino acid positions 60, 61, 228, 229, 456 and 523 were found within the strong antigenic regions. A recombination event occurred at 6833-7070 nt between the GAstV TZ03 and Turkey astrovirus CA/00 and this was detected in both the GXNN and GDCS strains. Another recombinant event occurred at 63-2747 nt between the GAstV XT1 and GAstV SDPY and this was detected in the GDCS strain. When 1-day-old goslings were infected with the novel GXNN and GDCS strains, they showed severe visceral gout. This was accompanied by enlarged spleens, liver hemorrhages and urate deposits in the kidneys and ureters and their blood urea nitrogen levels were significantly elevated. The mortality rates of the GXNN- and GDCS-infected groups were pathogenically high at 80 % and 60 %, respectively. These results will promote our understanding of the evolution and epidemic potential of GAstVs in China., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)