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Thermal bridges significantly influence the energy performance of buildings. However, their impact varies depending on the type of thermal bridge, climate conditions, construction methodologies, and geometric characteristics of the building. On the Spanish Mediterranean coast, buildings with large balconies are predominant. Nevertheless, the Spanish energy efficiency regulations do not adequately specify the thermal bridges at the junctions of balconies with facades, leading to a lack of consideration for their influence in the majority of architectural projects. The objective of this study is to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the impact of such thermal bridges on the energy efficiency of buildings in a dry Mediterranean climate (BShs) within a warm semi-arid climate (BSh). As a case study, the influence of this thermal bridge is analyzed in two residential buildings located on the Mediterranean coast of southeastern Spain. The study also examines the modification of various construction parameters of this thermal bridge and determines the optimal design parameters to reduce its thermal transmittance. The results demonstrate that the energy needs caused by thermal bridges account for approximately 40% of the total annual energy needs of the studied residential buildings. Balcony thermal bridges account for 25% to 40% of the energy needs caused by all thermal bridges. The lack of differentiation in Spanish standards between balcony–facade and facade–slab edge junctions causes an imprecision in calculations equivalent to 12% of the total annual energy needs of dwellings. The novelty of this research lies in highlighting that current regulations and calculation programs need improvement to better characterize balcony thermal bridges and enhance the accuracy of building energy efficiency calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dry Mediterranean climate (BShs) is the European region with the highest number of hours of sunshine per year. The high annual solar radiation makes sun shading devices necessary to comply with current energy efficiency standards. However, these standards do not sufficiently consider their effect on the indoor lighting comfort of buildings. The objective is to qualitatively and quantitatively determine how movable sun shading devices jointly influence the energy efficiency, thermal comfort and lighting comfort of buildings in BShs climate. The scientific novelty of the work consists of demonstrating the limitations of the sun shading systems commonly used in southeastern Spain and determining the optimal technical solution in this climate to simultaneously improve thermal and lighting comfort. This research comparatively studies the influence of various movable sun shading systems on the daylighting and thermal performance of an educational building. This study conducted on-site measurements, user surveys and computer simulations to study how to improve the thermal and lighting performances of the building. This work demonstrates that interior solar shading provides little improvement in thermal comfort and reduces the cooling demand by only 25%. External movable sun shading improves thermal comfort and reduces the cooling demand by more than 60%, but only adjustable blinds or awnings achieve adequate and homogeneous illuminance values as they diffuse daylight. The paper concludes that energy efficiency standards should be modified to ensure adequate lighting comfort in buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy-supply crisis, aggravated by the war in Ukraine, has prompted EU governments to approve urgent energy-saving measures. The new Spanish energy-saving standard aims to reduce energy consumption by changing the regulatory limits for indoor hygrothermal conditions in buildings. This regulation has provoked a great social debate about its real effectiveness and its impact on user comfort. This work explores the hygrothermal performance of an office building in southeastern Spain. The objective of this research is to determine qualitatively and quantitatively how the new energy-saving standard in Spain influences energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort, by considering the characteristics of the dry Mediterranean climate (BShs) within a warm semi-arid climate (BSh). The scientific novelty of the study is to demonstrate that the new Spanish standard not only reduces energy costs but also makes the indoor comfort of buildings much worse; for this reason, an improvement in the standard is also proposed. The study methodology consists of a comparative study between the thermal performance, thermal comfort, and energy demand of the building, considering both the new and previous standards' requirements. It also includes the evaluation of a proposal to improve the current standard. The results showed that the new energy-saving standard reduced energy consumption by 21.78% in comparison to former standards, but the new comfort ranges were not acceptable for 60% of the users. The proposed improvement does achieve acceptable comfort for most users (75%) and an additional reduction in energy demand of 48.76% compared to current standard. We conclude that the thermal comfort requirements of the current energy standard should be modified to better adapt the design criteria to the dry Mediterranean climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses, as a case study, various balcony glazing arrangements in a typical tourist apartment building on the Mediterranean coast of south-eastern Spain, and their effects on the energy performance. The glazing of terraces has been very common in this type of flat over the last 40 years. The objective is to determine qualitatively and quantitatively how the glazing of terraces in such buildings influences their energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort, considering the specific characteristics of the dry Mediterranean climate (BShs) within a warm semi-arid climate (BSh). The scientific novelty of the work consists of demonstrating that the installation of glazed enclosures on terraces allows the houses to be heated for free in winter, taking advantage of the greenhouse effect, and allows excess heat to be dissipated in summer by using natural ventilation. The results of the work enable the determination of appropriate terrace glazing solutions to improve the energy efficiency and thermal comfort of the dwelling, obtaining a reduction of more than 58% in annual energy demand and annual energy consumption. The work demonstrates the advantages that glazing systems for terraces can have in improving the energy efficiency of houses by using systems like glass curtains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the energy behaviour of a traditional house on the Mediterranean coast of south-eastern Spain. The objective of the work is to determine the optimal passive strategies for rehabilitating a traditional house, improving its energy savings and comfort, considering the characteristics of the warm semi-arid Mediterranean climate. The main novelty of this article is that it demonstrates that the limits imposed by current regulations, based on globalised climate strategy approaches, undermine the energy efficiency capacity that passive solutions in vernacular architecture already employed. The methodology used consists of a systematised multi-objective study of various energy rehabilitation strategies. Four strategies were studied: raising the thermal insulation of enclosures, improving thermal insulation and solar control glazing with movable shading devices, increasing the size of windows and introducing the use of natural ventilation enhanced by ceiling fans. The results show that simultaneous improvement of these parameters reduces cooling and heating requirements by up to 87%, reducing the energy consumption of air conditioning systems. Indoor temperatures are also maintained within the comfort limits set by regulations for 91% of hours per year without the need for air conditioning systems. This results in a passive energy-efficient and comfortable house almost all year round. This work offers an alternative solution to the comfort standards of current Spanish regulations and demonstrates the need to adapt Fanger's analytical method for comfort estimation. The research concludes that the comfort criteria of current energy regulations should be modified to better adapt the design criteria to the dry Mediterranean climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to identify the roles played by major Spanish NGOs (44 of the 100 largest in terms of their budget) in the process of collaboration between them. The results seem to show three groups of organizations with homogeneous behaviour. The first, those with very large budgets, engage in very active collaboration with other less related sectors. The second group is also made up of large-scale organizations, which focus on development activities and collaborate with other organizations in their sector. Finally, the third group is more heterogeneous, and the organizations cooperate less, for different reasons: either they are very wary of engaging with other organizations, or they prefer to engage in smaller-scale collaborations with other organizations with which they share a mission (values, ideology, beliefs, etc..), or they are isolated from the rest because they are involved in some legal process or judicial intervention. The method applied is Blockmodel Analysis, in the context of Network Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of winter savory (Satureja montana) essential oil (EO) for control of growth and survival of experimentally inoculated Listeria monocytogenes serovar 4b (104 CFU/g) among natural flora in minced pork. EOs of French thyme (Thymus vulgaris F) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) cultivated in the same region of Aragon (northeastern Spain) were used as reference ingredients. The EOs obtained by hydrodistillation were added at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2.5 µl/g (vol/wt), and the samples were kept at 4°C in air for up to 7 days. The populations of L. monocytogenes and total viable bacteria were determined in the control and treated samples at 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 days. Moderate activity of S. montana EO against L. monocytogenes was observed (at 2.5 µl/g, reductions of 0.27 log CFU/g by day 3 and 0.61 log CFU/g by day 7), with higher activity against aerobic flora. The greatest reduction in aerobic flora was on day 3 (at 2.5 µl/g) from 1.10 to 1.45 log CFU/g. S. montana EO was comparable to T. vulgaris F EO in listericidal activity, but R. officinalis EO was ineffective against the L. monocytogenes and aerobic flora in the minced meat model. The --3-log reduction in aerobic flora with T. vulgaris F EO at 0.25 to 2.5 µl/g after 5 days of storage was the most significant reduction. Depending on sensory considerations, the addition of active EOs in combination with other preservation techniques for synergistic effects may provide alternatives to synthetic chemical preservatives. Suggestions on relationships between chemical composition and biological activities of EOs are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of selected essential oils for the control of growth and survival of pathogenic microorganisms of significant importance in food hygiene and to determine whether the antimicrobial effect was due to the major compounds of the oils. MIC and MBC were determined by the tube dilution method. Essential oils from Thymus vulgaris from Spain and France, Salvia sclarea, Salvia officinalis, Salvia lavandulifolia, Lavandula latifolia, Lavandula angustifolia, three hybrids of Lavandula latifolia × Lavandula angustifolia (Lavandin 'Super', Lavandin 'Abrialis', and Lavandin 'Grosso'), Rosmarinus officinalis, Hissopus officinalis, and Satureja montana were evaluated. Inhibition ranged from the strong activity of Satureja montana and Thymus vulgaris (France) to no inhibition with Salvia sclarea and Hissopus officinalis for each of the test strains: Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Yersinia enterocolitica, Shigella flexneri, Listeria monocytogenes serovar 4b, and Staphylococcus aureus. Because some of the essential oils were highly inhibitory in small quantities to selected pathogenic microorganisms, they may provide alternatives to conventional antimicrobial additives in foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: We studied the role of lifestyle factors associated to type 2 diabetes (T2DM) onset according to type of prediabetes.Methods: We used data from the observational prospective cohort study in Primary Health Care on the Evolution of Patients with Prediabetes in Spain (PREDAPS). Participants were classified by American Diabetes Association criteria using either fasting plasma glucose levels (100-125 mg/dL) (group 1), HbA1c (5.7%-6.4%) (group 2) or both impaired parameters (group 3). Relationship between lifestyles and diabetes onset according to prediabetes at third year of follow up were estimated by Hazard Ratios (HRs) using three sequential models.Results: Incidence rate of diabetes was 2.27 cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 1.4-3.6) for group 1, 1.18 (95% CI: 0.65-2.13) for group 2 and 6.68 (95% CI: 5.71-8.23) for group 3. The most important risk factors were: abdominal obesity (HR: 2.29 (95% CI: 1.49-3.52)) and hypertension (HR: 2.16 (95% CI: 1.41-3.30)). Using as reference group 2, group 3 had a HR of 5.82 (3.13-10.82) and 1.83 (95% CI: 0.85-3.93) for group 1, estimates remained constant when adjusting by lifestyle and metabolic factors.Conclusions: Lifestyle and metabolic do not seem to explain the differences on T2DM onset by type of prediabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The occurrence of aflatoxins in national and imported pistachios available in Aragón (NE Spain), purchased from commercial outlets during 2007, was surveyed. Thirty-two samples of roasted pistachios were analyzed for aflatoxins by immunoaffinity cleanup with liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection using post-column photochemical derivatization. Results showed that the incidence of aflatoxin B1 and B2 in pre-packed pistachios was 19% and 6%, while in bulk pistachios was 50% and 12.5%, respectively. All positive samples originated from Iran, while pistachios from USA, Turkey and Spain tested negative for aflatoxins. The low degree of contamination ranged from 0.12 to 0.29μg/kg, and no sample exceeded the maximum permitted level for aflatoxins in pistachio nuts. Naturally occurring aflatoxin B1 was not noticeably reduced by commercial roasting at 120°C for 20min. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]