A sociotechnical approach to users' heritage values and decision-making processes for energy efficiency and thermal comfort in heritage buildings: A pilot study in Mexico City

Historic buildings have been gradually considered within energy efficiency practices and renewable energy systems, but the implementation of such measures is more complex for historic buildings. It is fundamental to understand the importance of users in the heritage-energy sector. Thus, energy conservation practices of historic buildings that involve less invasive interventions that could lead to loss of value must be promoted. The paper illustrates how residents of historic buildings in the Historic Centre of Mexico City (World Heritage) make decisions on energy efficiency with the ultimate goal of improving thermal comfort and reducing energy consumption. This study consists of five in-depth semi-structured interviews complemented by monitoring internal environmental conditions such as temperature and relative humidity. The thematic analysis of the interviews was followed by a system dynamics analysis to better understand the changes in decision making over time. The dynamic hypothesis is that heritage values assigned to historic buildings change over time and they drive or prohibit changes in energy efficiency. Moreover, a tension arises over time between the limitations on listed buildings in which making many changes in use and energy efficiency interventions is prevented. Our results show that participants take passive thermal-comfort actions (e.g., wearing more clothes and closing windows) when internal temperatures are low. They oppose major interventions or invasive retrofitting to the building, given the high cost and potential loss of value assigned to their buildings. The changes the users would consider while dealing with uncomfortable internal conditions are small interventions in floors and ceilings; however, they avoid making changes to aspects they consider are important and must be preserved and protected (social and cultural values). Integrating the understanding of users' behaviours toward energy efficiency and heritage values can enhance retrofitting policies and guidelines that help protect and maintain the heritage-built stock

The connection between the peaks in velocity dispersion and star-forming clumps of turbulent galaxies

We present Keck/OSIRIS adaptive optics observations with 150-400 pc spatial sampling of 7 turbulent, clumpy disc galaxies from the DYNAMO sample ($0.07<z<0.2$). DYNAMO galaxies have previously been shown to be well matched in properties to main sequence galaxies at $z\sim1.5$. Integral field spectroscopy observations using adaptive optics are subject to a number of systematics including a variable PSF and spatial sampling, which we account for in our analysis. We present gas velocity dispersion maps corrected for these effects, and confirm that DYNAMO galaxies do have high gas velocity dispersion ($\sigma=40-80$\kms), even at high spatial sampling. We find statistically significant structure in 6 out of 7 galaxies. The most common distance between the peaks in velocity dispersion and emission line peaks is $\sim0.5$~kpc, we note this is very similar to the average size of a clump measured with HST H$\alpha$ maps. This could suggest that the peaks in velocity dispersion in clumpy galaxies likely arise due to some interaction between the clump and the surrounding ISM of the galaxy, though our observations cannot distinguish between outflows, inflows or velocity shear. Observations covering a wider area of the galaxies will be needed to confirm this result.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Probing the effects of a thermonuclear X-ray burst on the neutron star accretion flow with NuSTAR

Observational evidence has been accumulating that thermonuclear X-ray bursts ignited on the surface of neutron stars influence the surrounding accretion flow. Here, we exploit the excellent sensitivity of NuSTAR up to 79 keV to analyze the impact of an X-ray burst on the accretion emission of the neutron star LMXB 4U 1608-52. The ~200 s long X-ray burst occurred during a hard X-ray spectral state, and had a peak intensity of ~30-50 per cent of the Eddington limit with no signs of photospheric radius expansion. Spectral analysis suggests that the accretion emission was enhanced up to a factor of ~5 during the X-ray burst. We also applied a linear unsupervised decomposition method, namely non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), to study this X-ray burst. We find that the NMF performs well in characterizing the evolution of the burst emission and is a promising technique to study changes in the underlying accretion emission in more detail than is possible through conventional spectral fitting. For the burst of 4U 1608-52, the NMF suggests a possible softening of the accretion spectrum during the X-ray burst, which could potentially be ascribed to cooling of a corona. Finally, we report a small (~3 per cent) but significant rise in the accretion emission ~0.5 h before the X-ray burst, although it is unclear whether this was related to the X-ray burst ignition.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, to appear in MNRA

Evidence-based medicine and values-based medicine : partners in clinical education as well as in clinical practice

The best clinical decisions are based on both evidence and values in what is known as the ‘twofeet principle’. Anecdotally, educationalists find teaching clinicians to become more evidence based is relatively simple in comparison to encouraging them to become more values based. One reason is likely to be the importance of values awareness. As valuesbased practice is premised on a mutual respect for the diversity of values, clinicians need to develop the skills to ascertain patient values and to get in touch with their own beliefs and preferences in order to understand those at play in any consultation. Only then can shared decision-making processes take place within a shared framework of values. In a research article published in BMC Medicine, AltamiranoBustamante and colleagues highlight difficulties that clinicians face in getting in touch with their own values. Despite finding that healthcare personnel’s core values were honesty and respect, autonomy was initially low ranked by participants. One significant aspect of this work is that this group has demonstrated that the extent to which clinicians value ‘autonomy’ and ‘openness to change’ can both be positively influenced by well designed education

Estrategia Metodológica para la Visualización Digital de Patrones Aerodinámicos Presentes en la Morfología Urbana y su Incidencia en el Uso Estancial de los Espacios Públicos

Los estudios de viento requieren nuevas herramientas y modelizaciones que ahora es posible abordar desde diferentes programas de simulación urbana

Breaking the AMSP mould: the increasingly strange case of HETE J1900.1-2455

We present ongoing Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) monitoring observations of the 377.3 Hz accretion-powered pulsar, HETE J1900.1-2455 Activity continues in this system more than 3 years after discovery, at a mean luminosity of 4.4e36 erg/s (for d=5 kpc), although pulsations were present only within the first 70 days. X-ray variability has increased each year, notably with a brief interval of nondetection in 2007, during which the luminosity dropped to below 1e-3 of the mean level. A deep search of data from the intervals of nondetection in 2005 revealed evidence for extremely weak pulsations at an amplitude of 0.29% rms, a factor of ten less than the largest amplitude seen early in the outburst. X-ray burst activity continued through 2008, with bursts typically featuring strong radius expansion. Spectral analysis of the most intense burst detected by RXTE early in the outburst revealed unusual variations in the inferred photospheric radius, as well as significant deviations from a blackbody. We obtained much better fits instead with a comptonisation model.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, one table; to appear in the proceedings of the workshop "A Decade of Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsars", Amsterdam, April 2008, eds. R. Wijnands et al. (AIP Conf. Proc.

Evidence of two unique variability classes from IGR J17091-3624

IGR J17091-3624 is the second black hole X-ray binary after GRS 1915+105, which showed large and distinct variabilities. The study of these variability classes can be useful to understand the accretion-ejection mechanisms of accreting black holes, and hence to probe the strong gravity regime. We report the discovery of two new variability classes (C1 and C2) from IGR J17091-3624 from the 2011 outburst Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer data. These unique classes will be useful to have complete details about the source, and to learn new aspects about variabilities. For examples, the C1 class shows that the intensity and period of oscillations, energy spectrum and power spectrum can clearly evolve in tens of seconds. Moreover, in such a small time scale, soft-lag becomes hard-lag. The C2 class shows that the variability and the nonvariability can occur at similar energy spectrum, and a soft state is not required for variability to happen.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letter

The high-energy emission from the massive colliding-wind binary HD 93129A near periastron

We conducted an observational campaign towards one of the most massive and luminous colliding wind binaries in the Galaxy, HD 93129A, close to its periastron passage in 2018. During this time the source was predicted to be in its maximum of high-energy emission. We present the results from our observations with the X-ray satellites Chandra and NuSTAR and the γ-ray satellite AGILE. High-energy emission coincident with HD 93129A was detected in the X-ray band up to ∼18 keV, whereas in the γ-ray band only upper limits were obtained. We interpret the derived fluxes using a non-thermal radiative model for the wind-collision region. We estimate the fraction of the wind kinetic power that is converted into relativistic electron acceleration and the magnetic field in the wind-collision region. We conclude that multiwavelength, dedicated observing campaigns during carefully selected epochs are a powerful tool for characterizing the relativistic particle content and magnetic field intensity in colliding wind binaries.Fil: del Palacio, Santiago. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: García, Federico. Kapteyn Astronomical Institute; Países Bajos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Altamirano, D.. University of Southampton; Reino UnidoFil: Corcoran, M. Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center; Estados UnidosFil: Hamaguchi, K. Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center; Estados Unidos237th meeting of the American Astronomical SocietyWashingtonEstados UnidosThe American Astronomical Societ

A 2.15 Hour Orbital Period for the Low Mass X-Ray Binary XB 1832-330 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6652

We present a candidate orbital period for the low mass X-ray binary XB 1832-330 in the globular cluster NGC 6652 using a 6.5 hour Gemini South observation of the optical counterpart of the system. Light curves in g' and r' for two LMXBs in the cluster, sources A and B in previous literature, were extracted and analyzed for periodicity using the ISIS image subtraction package. A clear sinusoidal modulation is evident in both of A's curves, of amplitude ~0.11 magnitudes in g' and ~0.065 magnitudes in r', while B's curves exhibit rapid flickering, of amplitude ~1 magnitude in g' and ~0.5 magnitudes in r'. A Lomb-Scargle test revealed a 2.15 hour periodic variation in the magnitude of A with a false alarm probability less than 10^-11, and no significant periodicity in the light curve for B. Though it is possible saturated stars in the vicinity of our sources partially contaminated our signal, the identification of A's binary period is nonetheless robust.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, ApJ in pres

Hacia un paisaje resiliente en la costa peruana

En el territorio peruano se desarrollan una serie de fenómenos naturales y formas de ocupación, que al entrar en contacto establecen diferentes formas de configurar el paisaje. Además los fenómenos naturales y especialmente los de gran magnitud representan para todo grupo humano un determinado riesgo, el cual se desarrolla con mayor intensidad en el territorio costero del Perú Tomando como caso de investigación la Intercuenca de Trujillo, se estudia el riesgo que representa su ocupación, la cual está asociada a amenazas naturales como aluviones e inundaciones generados principalmente por el Fenómeno El Niño, los cuales han ocasionan impactos negativos no solo en la ciudad trujillana a través de la historia, sino también, a lo largo de la costa norte peruana. Cabe señalar que en el territorio de la intercuenca se desarrollaron grupos humanos capaces de adaptarse a diversos riesgos, tanto naturales como antrópicos, como la cultura precolombina Chimú y la colonia española en la época de la conquista, desarrollando ambos grupos humanos una serie de estrategias para hacer frente a eventos peligrosos. Lo cual quiere decir, la construcción de una serie de estructuras destinadas a la habitabilidad, la productividad y la seguridad frente a amenazas naturales o antrópicas.Tesi