Typical and extreme weather datasets for studying the resilience of buildings to climate change and heatwaves.

We present unprecedented datasets of current and future projected weather files for building simulations in 15 major cities distributed across 10 climate zones worldwide. The datasets include ambient air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, direct and diffuse solar irradiance, and wind speed at hourly resolution, which are essential climate elements needed to undertake building simulations. The datasets contain typical and extreme weather years in the EnergyPlus weather file (EPW) format and multiyear projections in comma-separated value (CSV) format for three periods: historical (2001-2020), future mid-term (2041-2060), and future long-term (2081-2100). The datasets were generated from projections of one regional climate model, which were bias-corrected using multiyear observational data for each city. The methodology used makes the datasets among the first to incorporate complex changes in the future climate for the frequency, duration, and magnitude of extreme temperatures. These datasets, created within the IEA EBC Annex 80 "Resilient Cooling for Buildings", are ready to be used for different types of building adaptation and resilience studies to climate change and heatwaves.

Performance dataset on a nearly zero-energy office building in temperate oceanic climate based on field measurements.

This dataset was developed between May 2018 and April 2019 to evaluate the building performance of a nearly zero-energy office building in a temperate oceanic climate. This dataset refers to the research paper titled "Performance evaluation of a nearly zero-energy office building in temperate oceanic climate based on field measurements". The data provides the evaluation of air temperature, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions from the reference building in Brussels, Belgium. The importance of the dataset lies in its unique data collection approach that provides detailed information on electricity and natural gas use, along with indoor and outdoor ambient temperature values. The methodology involves compiling and refining the data from the energy management system installed in Clinic Saint-Pierre, Brussels, Belgium. Hence, the data is unique and not available on any other public platforms. The methodology followed in this paper to produce the data was an observational approach focused on field measurements of air temperature and energy performance. This data paper will be beneficial for scientists working on the implementation of thermal comfort strategies and energy efficiency measures toward energy-neutral buildings while accounting for the performance gaps.

Data on residential nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) design in Eastern Europe.

This data article includes a dataset developed between 2020 and 2022 to characterize and analyze the state of energy efficiency of nearly zero energy buildings in ten Eastern European countries. The data article refers to the paper' Overview and future challenges of nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) design in Eastern Europe' (Attia and Kosinski et al., 2022). The data provides an overview of the status of building energy use, energy savings, and regulations for the newly constructed building stock, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The importance of the dataset lies in its unique approach of data collection that provides detailed information on electricity, gas, oil, coal, and wood used in the investigated countries between 2015 and 2020. The methodology involves compiling and fusing data from national registries and depositories written in ten different national languages. Thus, the data is not available in Eurostat or any EU platform. The methodology followed to produce the data is mainly a literature review of restricted national publications and an extensive questionnaire with 14 national experts involved with the nZEB implementation plans and policies. The data include several parameters, including building energy efficiency thresholds expressed in the form of primary energy use intensity; primary energy conversion factors; renewable energy shares; building envelope performance requirements; mechanical ventilation performance requirements; thermal comfort requirements; construction rates of residential buildings; and heat pumps market penetration expressed as heat pump units per 100 households. The data paper is valuable for scientists to conduct future research to implement energy efficiency measures and renewables towards energy-neutral buildings.

Association of a novel Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF)-3928C/T and GM-CSF(3606T/C) Promoter gene polymorphisms with the pathogenesis and severity of acne vulgaris: A case-controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is believed to play an important role in the development of acne vulgaris. AIM OF THE WORK: To investigate the presence of GM-CSF 3928C/T and GM-CSF 3606 T/C promoter gene polymorphisms in Egyptian acne patients. METHODS: To examine whether GM-CSF single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with susceptibility to acne vulgaris (AV), we investigated the genotype and allele frequencies of the SNP 3928C/T and 3606T/C of the GM-CSF gene in 100 Egyptian acne patients (29 with mild acne, 38 with moderate acne, and 33 with severe acne) and 100 controls, using a PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. RESULTS: There was a highly significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of the 3928C/T group between patients with acne vulgaris and controls for the SNP site. Regarding the 3606 T/C subgroup only a marginal significant difference was found between cases and controls in TC pattern (p = 0.039); with the TC genotype appearing more in cases (53% of patients) than controls (35% of healthy controls). CONCLUSION: We report a novel GM-CSF 3928C/T promoter gene polymorphism contributing to the pathogenesis of acne in Egyptian population.

Evaluating the wind cooling potential on outdoor thermal comfort in selected Iranian climate types.

Wind is one of the main factors affecting people's outdoor thermal sensation. Ongoing urbanization and urban densification are transforming the urban climate and complicating the pedestrian-level wind environment. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to evaluate the potential wind-cooling effect on human outdoor thermal conditions. Accordingly, the current research attempts determine the best wind directions for thermal comfort at the studied stations and how these factors will be changed under the effects of global warming. Outdoor thermal conditions were modeled based on the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) thermal index using RayMan software for the decades of the 2000s and the 2040s in different climate types of Iran (Csb, BWh, Csa, and BSh) To estimate the potential cooling effect of wind, the PET was calculated (1) under actual wind conditions, and (2) under calm wind (0.05 m/s) conditions. Then, the ΔPET for these two conditions, which indicates the cooling potential effect (CPE) of the wind, was calculated for four representative stations (Ardebil, Bandar Abbas, Gorgan, and Shiraz). In comparison with the 2000s, the results indicated that by the 2040s, the predicted wind cooling potential will have increased in Ardebil, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas and Gorgan (CPE of 13.2 °C, 13.1 °C, 11.2 °C, and 11 °C, respectively). Based on the overall average of two climate change scenarios (A2 and B1) used in this study, the occurrence of "comfortable" conditions by the 2040s will have increased in Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, and Ardebil by 1.1%, 0.4%, and 0.3%, respectively, while it will have decreased in Gorgan by 1.5%. Accounting for the cooling effect of wind, the comfort cooling potential of wind is predicted to rise by an average of 1.6 °C in the 2040s compared with the 2000s in all the studied stations. Therefore, this will affect the microclimates positively and could reduce the urban heat island effects.