Thermal comfort in residential buildings with water based heating systems: a tool for selecting appropriate heat emitters when using µ-cogeneration

As a consequence of people becoming more aware of their impact on the environment, there is an increasing demand for low energy buildings. Forced by regulation, building envelopes are improving and heating and cooling systems with higher efficiencies are being installed. The public are willing to embrace these new technologies, as long as they do not affect the quality of their indoor environment. In this paper, an introduction to research on the realisation of the indoor thermal comfort in residential buildings with water based, low-energy heating systems is given. The basis for this work is a more realistic definition of comfort temperatures for residential buildings. Subsequently, appropriate heat emitters to realise that thermal comfort in an efficient way are identified, taking into account the limitations of the production system under consideration. An example of a µ-cogeneration system is presented as a case study

Precompact abelian groups and topological annihilators

For a compact Hausdorff abelian group K and its subgroup H, one defines the g-closure g(H) of H in K as the subgroup consisting of $\chi \in K$ such that $\chi(a_n)\longrightarrow 0$ in T=R/Z for every sequence {a_n} in $\hat K$ (the Pontryagin dual of K) that converges to 0 in the topology that H induces on $\hat K$. We prove that every countable subgroup of a compact Hausdorff group is g-closed, and thus give a positive answer to two problems of Dikranjan, Milan and Tonolo. We also show that every g-closed subgroup of a compact Hausdorff group is realcompact. The techniques developed in the paper are used to construct a close relative of the closure operator g that coincides with the $G_\delta$-closure on compact Hausdorff abelian groups, and thus captures realcompactness and pseudocompactness of subgroups.Comment: Version 1.0 - submitte

When a totally bounded group topology is the Bohr Topology of a LCA group

We look at the Bohr topology of maximally almost periodic groups (MAP, for short). Among other results, we investigate when a totally bounded abelian group $(G,w)$ is the Bohr reflection of a locally compact abelian group. Necessary and sufficient conditions are established in terms of the inner properties of $w$. As an application, an example of a MAP group $(G,t)$ is given such that every closed, metrizable subgroup $N$ of $bG$ with $N \cap G = \{0\}$ preserves compactness but $(G,t)$ does not strongly respects compactness. Thereby, we respond to Questions 4.1 and 4.3 in [comftrigwu]

Humility, Forgiveness, and Love -- The Heart of Ethical Stewardship

The purpose of this paper is to identify the nature and importance of ethical stewardship as a powerful contributor to the trustworthiness of leaders – focusing on humility, forgiveness, and love as three leadership qualities that are at the heart of ethical stewardship. We begin by defining ethical stewardship and equating it with Six characteristics of personal trustworthiness. Following that introduction, we explain why humility, forgiveness, and love are vitally important leadership qualities essential to becoming an effective ethical steward and include six propositions relating those three qualities to ethical stewardship. We then offer six insights about humility, forgiveness, and love that can assist those who wish to improve their ability to become ethical stewards to improve their success. We conclude the paper with a challenge to leaders to adopt ethical stewardship as their leadership paradigm

Exactly nn-resolvable Topological Expansions

For $\kappa$ a cardinal, a space X=(X,\sT) is $\kappa$-{\it resolvable} if $X$ admits $\kappa$-many pairwise disjoint \sT-dense subsets; (X,\sT) is {\it exactly} $\kappa$-{\it resolvable} if it is $\kappa$-resolvable but not $\kappa^+$-resolvable. The present paper complements and supplements the authors' earlier work, which showed for suitably restricted spaces (X,\sT) and cardinals $\kappa\geq\lambda\geq\omega$ that (X,\sT), if $\kappa$-resolvable, admits an expansion \sU\supseteq\sT, with (X,\sU) Tychonoff if (X,\sT) is Tychonoff, such that (X,\sU) is $\mu$-resolvable for all $\mu<\lambda$ but is not $\lambda$-resolvable (cf. Theorem~3.3 of \cite{comfhu10}). Here the "finite case" is addressed. The authors show in ZFC for $1<n<\omega$: (a) every $n$-resolvable space (X,\sT) admits an exactly $n$-resolvable expansion \sU\supseteq\sT; (b) in some cases, even with (X,\sT) Tychonoff, no choice of \sU is available such that (X,\sU) is quasi-regular; (c) if $n$-resolvable, (X,\sT) admits an exactly $n$-resolvable quasi-regular expansion \sU if and only if either (X,\sT) is itself exactly $n$-resolvable and quasi-regular or (X,\sT) has a subspace which is either $n$-resolvable and nowhere dense or is $(2n)$-resolvable. In particular, every $\omega$-resolvable quasi-regular space admits an exactly $n$-resolvable quasi-regular expansion. Further, for many familiar topological properties \PP, one may choose \sU so that (X,\sU)\in\PP if (X,\sT)\in\PP

Tychonoff Expansions with Prescribed Resolvability Properties

The recent literature offers examples, specific and hand-crafted, of Tychonoff spaces (in ZFC) which respond negatively to these questions, due respectively to Ceder and Pearson (1967) and to Comfort and Garc\'ia-Ferreira (2001): (1) Is every $\omega$-resolvable space maximally resolvable? (2) Is every maximally resolvable space extraresolvable? Now using the method of ${\mathcal{KID}}$ expansion, the authors show that {\it every} suitably restricted Tychonoff topological space (X,\sT) admits a larger Tychonoff topology (that is, an "expansion") witnessing such failure. Specifically the authors show in ZFC that if (X,\sT) is a maximally resolvable Tychonoff space with S(X,\sT)\leq\Delta(X,\sT)=\kappa, then (X,\sT) has Tychonoff expansions \sU=\sU_i ($1\leq i\leq5$), with \Delta(X,\sU_i)=\Delta(X,\sT) and S(X,\sU_i)\leq\Delta(X,\sU_i), such that (X,\sU_i) is: ($i=1$) $\omega$-resolvable but not maximally resolvable; ($i=2$) [if $\kappa'$ is regular, with S(X,\sT)\leq\kappa'\leq\kappa] $\tau$-resolvable for all $\tau<\kappa'$, but not $\kappa'$-resolvable; ($i=3$) maximally resolvable, but not extraresolvable; ($i=4$) extraresolvable, but not maximally resolvable; ($i=5$) maximally resolvable and extraresolvable, but not strongly extraresolvable.Comment: 25 pages, 0 figure

Comfort Empowers

A student threw his paper at me demanding that I “fix it.” He could not admit the struggles he faced with writing and the university, juggling a tough schedule, feeling disconnected from his peers and professors, and constantly having his flaws magnified. He did not believe he needed help with his writing and thought he was unjustly forced to meet with me weekly. By discussing the demands placed on him both inside and outside the university, we were able to lay everything out on the table. He needed to vent and deal with other problems before he could confront his writing. Once a level of trust was developed, the sessions became easier and we could turn our focus to his writing. Without taking the time to establish trust, the barriers he constructed would never have been dismantled. Through our discussions, he realized I was not only concerned with his writing, but with him as a personUniversity Writing Cente

A Feminist Perspective on the Iraq War

In this article, the author historicizes her analysis of conditions for Iraqi women after the US invasion of 2003. Based on auto-biographical reflections, Al-Ali also presents her own trajectory as an academic-actvist and an activist-academic